Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the geographic distribution of mental health-related 911 calls for service in the City of Detroit, Michigan. Optimized hot spot analysis found that the calls were not randomly distributed. Statistically significant hot and cold spots were identified for all mental health calls, suicides and suicide attempts, as well as people with mental illness who were violent and non-violent. Using risk terrain modeling, various characteristics of the physical/built environment were examined to see if there was a relationship between place and mental health related calls for service. For all mental health calls, the range of Relative Risk Scores was 1–384, which means that cells with an RRS of 384 have an expected rate of mental health calls for service that is 384 times higher than a place with a score of 1. While the locations of crimes of violence do influence risk of calls for service for mental health issues, locations of non-violent property crimes, blight violations, and quality of life offenses have a greater influence on the risk of suicide, non-violent mental health, and violent mental health calls for service.
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While all other risk factors in this analysis were point data, the locations of the parks were in a polygon shapefile.
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Appendix: Data Descriptions
Appendix: Data Descriptions
Layer | Source | Date accessed | Data link | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Blight violation notices | City of Detroit open data portal blight notifications | 5/1/2019 | https://data.detroitmi.gov/Property-Parcels/Blight-Violations/ti6p-wcg4 | Blight violations notices from 9/7/2017–5/1/2019 |
Demolitions | City of Detroit open data portal Detroit demolitions | 5/5/2019 | https://data.detroitmi.gov/Property-Parcels/Detroit-Demolitions/rv44-e9di | Demolition Dates from 1/1/2014–5/5/2019 |
Gun dealers | Google Earth | 5/5/2019 | Includes all firearms dealers within city limits | |
Liquor licenses | City of Detroit open data liquor licenses | 5/5/2019 | https://data.detroitmi.gov/Public-Health/Liquor-Licenses/8hr2-enc6 | Includes all active liquor licenses within city limits |
Mental health calls | City of Detroit open data portal DPD: 911 calls for service | 5/1/2019 | Includes suicides, suicide attempts, mental ill not violent, and mental violent | |
Parks | City of Detroit open data portal parks 2016 | 5/9/2019 | Polygon shapefile downloaded from source | |
Places of worship | Google Earth | 5/11/2019 | Includes churches, synagogues, and mosques | |
Recreation centers | City of Detroit open data portal recreation centers | 5/9/2019 | Point/address file downloaded from source | |
Reported crimes | City of Detroit open data portal DPD: all crime incidents | 5/1/2019 | https://data.detroitmi.gov/Public-Safety/DPD-All-Crime-Incidents-December-6-2016-Present/6gdg-y3kf | Includes all property, violent, and other criminal offenses |
Veteran service centers | Google Earth/RTMx search | 5/19/2019 | Includes VA Medical Centers; VA Service Centers; and veterans support organizations |
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Lersch, K.M., Christy, A. (2020). The Geography of Mental Health: An Examination of Police Calls for Service. In: Lersch, K., Chakraborty, J. (eds) Geographies of Behavioural Health, Crime, and Disorder. GeoJournal Library, vol 126. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-33467-3_2
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