The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program is a community partnership between law enforcement, mental health agencies, addiction specialists, individuals impacted by Behavioral Health (mental health conditions, developmental disabilities, and addiction) and their families.
CIT’s foundation comes from a community policing program in Memphis, TN. CIT was designed with the goal that everyone will work together to identify appropriate resources for those in crisis. Another driving force of the CIT program is to redirect individuals in crisis or diagnosed with a mental health condition and/or substance use disorder away from the criminal justice system and into the health care system whenever appropriate.
After the implementation of CIT in Memphis, the number of officer injuries sustained during a response to “mental health disturbance” calls dropped 80%. The jail diversion associated with this program has also given more resource options for people with mental health conditions and/or substance use disorder.
Implementation of a CIT program is shown to increase the confidence in an officer’s response.
BENEFITS OF CIT
• Reduction and severity of tragic incidents including significantly decreasing police officer injury rates
• Positive community relationships
• Efficient crisis response times
• Increased officer confidence in skills
• More efficient use of criminal justice resources – including increased jail diversion for those with a mental health condition and/or substance use disorder
• Reduction in time spent responding to a mental health call