Law enforcement officers continue to be the primary first responders to persons experiencing mental health crisis. In response, many law enforcement agencies have incorporated crisis intervention teams and trained officers as crisis intervention specialists. This webinar will examine the different models law enforcement agencies across the nation have employed for responding to persons in mental health crisis. It will discuss the principles upon which this strategy is based. It will then conclude by examining the empirical research on the broad impacts crisis intervention training, and crisis intervention teams. It will examine whether these interventions have had any impact on levels of care and instances of citizen or officer injuries.

Course Outline:

• Introduction
  • Mental health crisis in America
  • How the pandemic has exacerbated this issue
  • My own daughter’s experience
• Models of CIT
  • Individual officer training
  • CIT Teams
  • Reactive CIT response
  • Proactive CIT response
• Foundational principles
  • Gate-keeper barriers to mental health care
  • Van Maanen’s officer responses to citizen culpability
• Effectiveness
  • Treatment outcomes
  • Death and injury outcomes
• Conclusion