The Specialist Committee on the Future of Mental Health and Medical Welfare that was established by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare from 2016 to 2017 pointed out significant regional differences in the number of police officer reports per 100,000 population and the percentage of reports that led to a medical examination and those that led to hospitalization. Therefore, our research team proposed a draft guideline on the administrative hospitalization operation based on a survey of the police reports and discussions with mental health professionals, local government officials, and police officials. On March 27, 2018, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare issued the Guidelines for the Operation of Administrative Hospitalization based on this draft. The guideline, mainly for local government officials and police officers, presented the concept and operation of accepting police reports, the process from the preliminary investigation after accepting the report for medical examination, and the setting of a place for consultation meetings by relevant community parties. After the guidelines were issued, the regional differences in police reports were modestly corrected, and consultation meetings by local stakeholders were established. The effectiveness of the guidelines needs to be continuously verified. Police officers' reports play an important role in connecting people with mental disorders who need urgent medical care and thus cooperation between the police, local governments, and psychiatric hospitals is important to prevent involuntary hospitalization. While promoting the guidelines through continuous training and other means and considering revisions as necessary, the establishment of appropriate cooperation with the police through the use of consultation meetings among relevant parties in the community can improve the quality of community mental health care.
 Author's abstract