The impact of Crisis Intervention Team Training for police
| Date | 01 June 2020 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1461355720909404 |
| Author | Kimberly D Hassell |
| Published date | 01 June 2020 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
The impact of Crisis Intervention
Team Training for police
Kimberly D Hassell
UW Milwaukee Extension, USA
Abstract
Policing persons with mental illness and/or emotional/behavioral issues is complex and difficult. Police interactions and
encounters of this nature are expected to increase due to dwindling budgets and the resulting deficiencies of local mental
health systems. Police departments are responding to this growing need by requiring officers to attend Crisis Intervention
Team (CIT) Training. CIT Training is designed to teach officers about mental illness and effective strategies and techniques
for engaging and de-escalating potentially volatile interactio ns and encounters. This study was conducted in a large,
Midwestern, municipal police department. The data were triangulated and included: (a) CIT Training pre- and post-
tests administered to officers (N¼323) prior to and upon completion of the required 40-hour CIT Training held
during the months of October through December 2016 and February through May 2017; (b) participant observation
with police patrol officers in three of the seven police districts (N¼127 hours; April 2017 through May 2017); (c) semi-
structured interviews with police patrol officers assigned to three of the seven police districts who had completed the CIT
Training (N¼32 patrol officers; intensive interviews were conducted during participant observation); (d) in-person semi-
structured interviews with service providers/practitioners who interact with officers in the context of their working roles
and responsibilities (N¼27; July 2017 through January 2018); and (e) interviews with Urbantown Police Department
(UPD) executive command staff, CIT coordinators and UPD telecommunications personnel (N¼10; September 2017
through January 2018). The assessment finds that the CIT Training administered in a large, municipal police department
changed officers’ perceptions, as well as their street-level practices with persons with mental illness and/or emotional/
behavioral issues. This assessment also finds that police officers are taking fewer persons into custody for involuntary
treatment, and are instead transporting more persons for voluntary treatment.
Keywords
Police, mentally ill, CIT, training
Submitted 25 May 2019, accepted 30 Jan 2020
The impact of Crisis Intervention Team
Training for police
Police officers routinely interact with persons with mental
illness and/or emotional/behavioral issues (Bittner, 1967,
1975; Borum et al., 1998; Engel and Silver, 2001; Living-
ston et al., 2014). Scholars have argued that with declining
budgets and loc al mental healt h system defic iencies, these
types of interactionsare becoming even more frequent (Finn
and Stalans, 2002; Green, 1997; Jaffe, 2009; Livingston
et al., 2014). In some cases, these interactions can become
volatile, as persons in states of crises are oftentimes not
completely rational. Worst-case scenario, these interactions
may result in majorcritical incidents in which people’slives,
including thoseof the officers involved, are forever changed
(Finn and Stalans, 2002; Jaffe, 2009). In order to meet the
growing need and to prepare police officers for interactions
and encounterswith persons with mental illnessand/or emo-
tional/behavioral issues, many police departments have
turned to Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training.
Corresponding author:
Kimberly D Hassell, UW Milwaukee Ext ension, 2400 E Hartford Ave,
Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA.
Email: hassell@uwm.edu
International Journalof
Police Science & Management
2020, Vol. 22(2) 159–170
ªThe Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1461355720909404
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