Mental Health Services are key to CIT success

A rigorous study of the Crisis Intervention Team in Chicago indicates the importance of “responsive and effective” mental health services to the success of CIT, a widely adopted, award-winning community policing program that has been shown to prevent injuries to police officers as well as civilians. The study, by researchers at the University of Illinois, Chicago (funded by the National Institute of Mental Health), found that “[c]ompared to their non-CIT trained peers, CIT trained patrol officers were resolving a greater proportion of calls by transporting or otherwise directing adults with mental illnesses to mental health services.” However, the researchers say that, unless the mental health services that receive officer referrals are “responsive and effective” and there are accessible supportive services, such as housing, employment, and medical care, “it is possible that officers (CIT trained or not) eventually may become disillusioned and stop making the effort to link people.” A policy brief about the study was published by the Rutgers University Center for Behavioral Health Services & Criminal Justice Research.

Source: http://www.cbhs-cjr.rutgers.edu/pdfs/Policy%20Brief%202%2009%20(2).pdf