The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training program is a community partnership that provides education, understanding, interventions, relationships, and protection for responding officers, individuals in crisis and the community. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of CIT training amongst law enforcement officers in reducing stigmatizing attitudes and opinions on mental illnesses. The study uses a dependent means t-test to test the study participant’s attitudes and opinions on mental illnesses using a pre/post-test survey. A modified version of the Attitudes to Severe Mental Illness Scale was used to measure attitudes, beliefs, and opinions of mental illness. This modified version was developed based on CIT course material. The ultimate goal of this study was to gain insight within the law enforcement community as to whether or not CIT training is raising awareness on the issue of mental health. Findings from this study suggest that after participation, those in the CIT training reported lower levels of non-stigmatizing opinions and attitudes in two of the four factors being analyzed.

The criminal justice and mental health systems increasingly overlap as persons with mental illness (PMI) are disproportionately present throughout components of the criminal justice system, a concern to mental health and criminal justice professionals alike. In response, various initiatives (aimed across components of the criminal justice system) have been developed and implemented as a means of combating this overrepresentation. The following research will focus on one specialized police-based initiative, the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), which aims to train police how to recognize mental illness, de-escalate persons in crisis, and to seek treatment-based alternatives to arrest, when appropriate (Schwarzfeld, Reuland, & Plotkin, 2008). Alternatives to arrest consist of various community-based mental health services such as public hospitals (some of which are designated as emergency receiving facilities, or ERFs) or private clinics. While the components of CIT training likely influence officers in unique ways, research has yet to empirically examine how CIT influences police perception, behavior or the incidence of referrals to mental health treatment. As an initial step, this research assessed the attitudes police have regarding the hospital and mental health system within their district. Specifically, this research provides a basic understanding of how police regard their local hospitals and mental health facilities that are posited as available alternatives to arrest, and help identify the role CIT plays in shaping these attitudes. This study found almost no significant difference in the attitudes CIT-trained officers had towards district ERF and the local mental health system as compared to non-CIT officers. Only in one of the six departments studied was there a significant difference between the attitudes of CIT-officers and non-CIT officers; with the non-CIT officers actually having more positive attitudes about their local mental health system than CIT-officers. The six departments studied had nearly similar attitudes of their mental health resources, which would barely be considered passing on a standard grading scale. While officers in this study do not have very positive attitudes towards the ERF they use to transport PMI or their districts’ mental health system, these attitudes may in fact be more positive than many police departments without any specialized approach or initiative. The significance and policy implications of these attitudes are discussed at length, as these findings speak to the need for increased attention by both the mental health and criminal justice systems. Recommendations for future research, including expanding this study to rural departments or agencies with no connection to CIT, are also outlined.

The criminal justice and mental health systems increasingly overlap as persons with mental illness (PMI) are disproportionately present throughout components of the criminal justice system, a concern to mental health and criminal justice professionals alike. In response, various initiatives (aimed across components of the criminal justice system) have been developed and implemented as a means of combating this overrepresentation. The following research will focus on one specialized police-based initiative, the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), which aims to train police how to recognize mental illness, de-escalate persons in crisis, and to seek treatment-based alternatives to arrest, when appropriate (Schwarzfeld, Reuland, & Plotkin, 2008). Alternatives to arrest consist of various community-based mental health services such as public hospitals (some of which are designated as emergency receiving facilities, or ERFs) or private clinics. While the components of CIT training likely influence officers in unique ways, research has yet to empirically examine how CIT influences police perception, behavior or the incidence of referrals to mental health treatment. As an initial step, this research assessed the attitudes police have regarding the hospital and mental health system within their district. Specifically, this research provides a basic understanding of how police regard their local hospitals and mental health facilities that are posited as available alternatives to arrest, and help identify the role CIT plays in shaping these attitudes. This study found almost no significant difference in the attitudes CIT-trained officers had towards district ERF and the local mental health system as compared to non-CIT officers. Only in one of the six departments studied was there a significant difference between the attitudes of CIT-officers and non-CIT officers; with the non-CIT officers actually having more positive attitudes about their local mental health system than CIT-officers. The six departments studied had nearly similar attitudes of their mental health resources, which would barely be considered passing on a standard grading scale. While officers in this study do not have very positive attitudes towards the ERF they use to transport PMI or their districts’ mental health system, these attitudes may in fact be more positive than many police departments without any specialized approach or initiative. The significance and policy implications of these attitudes are discussed at length, as these findings speak to the need for increased attention by both the mental health and criminal justice systems. Recommendations for future research, including expanding this study to rural departments or agencies with no connection to CIT, are also outlined.

Thesis advisor: Thanh V. Tran / ABSTRACT This dissertation has the following specific aim: to measure outcomes of social work emergency certificates produced by a Mobile Crisis Team to determine the effectiveness of these certificates at linking clients to services. Linkage to services is a programmatic goal and is achieved by ensuring clients receive adequate crisis and follow up services as a result of Emergency Certificates. In doing so, risks of homicide, suicide and grave disability are mitigated. Under its administrative umbrella, Mobile Crisis Team operates a police-social work collaboration known as Crisis Intervention Team, and both are administered by the State of Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services in southeastern Connecticut. The data comes from 233 consecutive cases that involved Emergency Certificate's to transport clients to the local emergency department for psychiatric evaluation and treatment. Data was gathered post-hoc by reviewing copies of each specific certificate and cross-referencing those certificates with an agency risk management report and an electronic data base that stores demographic data on all clients. Descriptive, bivariate and multivariable analysis, such as cross tabulations and binary logistic regression, were used to analyze the data in this study. Additionally, the chi-square automatic interaction detector (CHAID) was used to construct outcome trees to describe subgroups of interest. This research is a continuation of previously published research on the various permutations and outcomes of mobile crisis programs, and contributes two unique programmatic features: the use by social workers of a legally proscribed coercive tool to send people to the emergency department for assessment, and the effectiveness of police-social work collaborations compared to social work only referrals. Overall, linkage occurs in over 80% of cases, with significant predictors of linkage identified as substance abuse, Hispanic ethnicity, criminal justice involvement, suicide, affective disorders, and insurance status. Implications for program evaluation, future research and limitations of the study are also discussed / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

The problem addressed in this phenomenological study was the lack of documentation that supported the lived experiences of crisis intervention team (CIT) trained police officers related to their encounters with persons with mental illnesses (PwMI). The purpose of the study was to explore the lived experiences of officers among CIT-trained police officers to address the problem. Using the Giles's communication accommodation theory and Rogers's protection motivation theory (PMT), the purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of CIT-trained police officers of PwMI during CIT encounters. Rogers's PMT was aligned closest with the teachings of CIT training as described by the study's participants. Participants provided data which was comprised of completed questionnaires and transcribed interviews. The method of analysis used was a combination of inductive coding and theme analysis that established the results of this study. Key findings of the study identified a significant amount of frustration expressed in the lived experiences of the CIT-trained police officers. Pushback from the public mental health facilities helped with the frustration experienced by CIT-trained police officers who applied the fundamentals of PMT and attempted to navigate treatment with the limited resources available to help PwMI in crisis. The positive social change produced from this study includes recommendations to police leadership and mental health advocates to encourage certain CIT training-related practices that directly impact CIT field encounters with PwMI in crisis. Specialized training may promote improved departmental outcomes, assist with injury reductions, and enable police officer accountability and reliability.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Although a specific program called the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) has been generally recognized as the best-practice model that addresses the needs of the police officers in responding to mental health calls, many jurisdictions across the country have not only adopted the full CIT model but also have taken the liberty of adding new components and/or removing components of the original model in order to create a unique program that fits the needs of their individual community. The issue of differentiated adaptations of the original CIT model has created a controversy around best practice in the area of police response to individuals with mental health issues who are in crisis. Using an on-line survey and interview methods, this study examined a relationship between the degree of variation within specialized policing response models and their corresponding community characteristics. Previous research shows that the components of the original CIT model have positive influence on officers’ confidence in interacting with people with mental illness. Therefore, this study also hypothesized that a rating of an SPR police officers’ job satisfaction was likely to correlate with the degree to which an SPR program adhered to the original CIT model. The study found that mental health resources, extent of presence of special populations in a community, existence of SPR policies in law enforcement, mental health, and dispatch departments, and how much law enforcement and mental health administrators supported the program, all predicted the degree of total deviation of a program from the original CIT model. Population density, related to a distinction between rural and non-rural communities, did not predict the degree of deviation from the original CIT model. The study also found that the degree of deviation of a program from the original CIT model did not strongly predict the rating of SPR officers’ job satisfaction. The study discusses the possible reasons for the results as well as implications for stakeholders who are considering implementation of a Specialized Policing Response model in their communities. Limitations of the current study’s research design are also discussed.

This diploma thesis deals with the system of a crisis intervention for the staff members of the Police of the Czech Republic. There are described means of psychological assistance for the staff members of the police and the research of trust in the psychological assistance and its awareness of the assistance and whether they use it.