What Is Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training?
The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model can help to address these problems. Similar to SWAT training, the CIT model recognizes that certain types of situations require a specialized response. CIT officers are trained to identify when someone may be experiencing a mental health crisis and adapt strategies for those individuals. This approach has been proven to dramatically decrease the risk of injuries or death to both officers and people with mental illnesses, and it also reduces the number of repeat calls.
The Memphis Police Department pioneered CIT in 1988 after the police shooting of a young man who had a mental illness. The Memphis police department, city administration, people with mental illnesses and their families worked together to change law enforcement crisis services to increase safety, understanding and dignity. Twenty-two years later, the CIT model has spread to hundreds of cities and counties around the country and is now being recognized internationally as well.
CIT starts with a 40-hour training, taught by law enforcement officers, about how to handle a mental health crisis safely. The training promotes the use of verbal de-escalation skills before using force when confronting a mental health crisis. CIT training also gives officers the tools they need to understand what someone in a mental health crisis may be experiencing and to direct someone in crisis to appropriate care.
By itself, training cannot compensate for the lack of mental health services in the community. Major Sam Cochran, the founder of CIT, often says that CIT is not just training—and this is why it works so well. CIT builds lasting partnerships between specialized officers, mental health providers, people with mental illnesses and family members in the community.
In all of its trainings, the Minnesota CIT Officer’s Association works with NAMI Minnesota, local mental health providers, people with mental illnesses and their family members. The very act of building these relationships ahead of time gives officers important tools to help them respond safely and effectively when a mental health crisis occurs.