Craig Bennell

Research Interests

My research focuses primarily on evidence-based policing, which involves working with police services and other partners to determine “what works” with respect to policing practices, programs, and policies. I have a particular interest in police responses to people experiencing mental health crises. My work in this area examines: (1) the strategies used by police officers to de-escalate crises, and how we can improve their ability (e.g., through training) to use such strategies more effectively; (2) the use of co-response models, which allow police officers to respond to crisis calls alongside a mental health professional; and (3) the development of civilian-led (i.e., non-police) approaches for managing mental health crises in the community. 

Selected Publications 

Brook, B., Elliott., M., & Bennell, C. (in press). An evaluation of SimVoice mental health de-escalation training. Journal of Community Safety and Well-Being.

Bennell, C., Jenkins, B., Blaskovits, B., Semple, T., Khanizadeh, A., Brown, A., & Jones, N. (2022). Knowledge, skills, and abilities for managing potentially volatile police-public interactions. A narrative review. Frontiers in Psychology. 

Bennell, C., Blaskovits, B., Jenkins, B., Semple, T., Khanizadeh, A.-J., Brown, A., & Jones, N. (2021). Promising practices for de-escalation and use-of-force training: A narrative review. Policing: An International Journal, 44, 377-404. 

Huey, L., Andersen, J., Bennell, C., Campbell, M. A., Koziarski, J., & Vaughan, A. D. (2021). Caught in the currents: Evaluating the evidence for common downstream police response interventions in calls involving persons with mental illness. FACETS, 6, 1409-1445. 

Semple, T., Tomlin, M., Bennell, C., & Jenkins, B. (2021). An evaluation of a community-based joint mobile crisis intervention team in a small Canadian police service. Community Mental Health Journal, 57,567-578