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Arapahoe County Sheriff Crisis Intervention Teams
Quick Facts:
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Arapahoe County Sheriff
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 425
- Primary specialized response:
- Police officers are trained to provide crisis intervention services and to act as liaisons to the mental health system.
- Program start year:
- 2005 or earlier
- Total number of officers in program:
- 63
Arapahoe County Sheriff Crisis Intervention Teams
Contact:
- Name:
- Harry Courtney
- Title:
- CIT Manager/Administrative Lieutenant/SORT Commander
- Organization:
- Arapahoe County Sheriff
- Address:
- 13101 E. Broncos Parkway
Centennial, CO 80112 - Email:
- hcourtney@co.arapahoe.co.us
- Phone:
- 720-874-3519
Agency Information
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Arapahoe County Sheriff
- Type of government that operates law enforcement agency:
- Municipal
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 425
Specialized Response Description
- Program start year:
- 2005 or earlier
- Primary specialized response:
- Police officers are trained to provide crisis intervention services and to act as liaisons to the mental health system.
- Secondary specialized response:
- Mental health professionals partner with law enforcement officers to provide on-scene crisis intervention and referral.
- Background information:
- Our program began with a federally funded, state adminstered grant to train officers in the 40 hour basic CIT course based on the Memphis model. The program is locally implemented and it took a couple of years to become fully operational and build local liaison. I was the first manager in my agency assigned to administer the program and build liaison with mental health providers and other government agencies. We have a written policy for guidelines and a webpage as outreach to our constituents.
- Total number of officers in program:
- 63
- Number of people with mental illness served:
- 101-200
- Catchment area:
- The entire jurisdiction
- Funding source(s):
- Sheriff's Department
- Staff supported by funding:
- Law Enforcement Officer
Program Partners and Personnel
- Existence of planning and oversight committee:
- Yes, currently
- Committee participants:
- Law enforcement line-level staff
- Law enforcement supervisory-level staff
- Law enforcement leadership
- Mental health (and/or substance abuse) line-level staff
- Mental health (and/or substance abuse) supervisory-level staff
- Mental health (and/or substance abuse) leadership
- Consumers of mental health services
- Family members of consumers
- Advocates
- Mental health or advocacy agencies that participate in program:
- NAMI and Arapahoe/Douglas Mental Health Network
- Written agreement of roles and procedures:
- No
- Recruitment and selection:
- Assigned or volunteer
- Program coordinator/boundary spanner
- Yes. The program coordinator represents a law enforcement agency
- same
Training on Mental Health Issues
- Types of training on mental health issues:
-
- Pre-service training for new recruits at the academy
- 8
- Basic in-service training for all patrol officers
- 4 to 8
- Advanced in-service training for select patrol officers
- 40 hourse
- Advanced in-service training for dispatchers and / or call takers
- 20 hours
- Number of officers who receive advanced training:
- 51-100
- Groups who conducts advanced training:
-
- Police officers
- Mental health professionals (crisis workers)
- Medical professionals (doctors or nurses)
- Consumers
- Advocates
- Family member of a person with mental illness
- Advanced training topics:
-
- Recognizing symptoms of mental illness, and clinical issues
- Co-occurring disorders
- Psychiatric medications
- Community resources (mental health services, etc.)
- Legal issues concerning individuals with mental illness
- De-escalation techniques
- Less lethal use of force options
- Suicide prevention
- Advanced training methods:
-
- Presentations (including panels, lectures, and/or PowerPoints)
- Role plays
- Site visits to community mental health facilities
- Videotapes
Response Procedures
- Standardized dispatch questions:
- No
- Dispatch documentation:
- Document in central computer database used for all calls, such as a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system
- Incident documentation by responding officer:
- Record information on a form used only for mental health calls
- Use of information on individuals' mental illness stored in police records:
- Ony in criminal justice system
- Mental health professional available to support police responder:
- Yes, remotely by telephone or dispatch (e.g. a crisis worker or psychiatric emergency room personnel)
- Officers permitted to transport people with mental illness to services when:
- The person is being brought to a hospital for emergency evaluation
- Officers allowed to transport a person without handcuffs:
- No
- Access to drop-off locations:
- No. (proceed to question 38)
- Drop-off center accepts people with co-occurring substance abuse disorders:
- Yes
- Length of time for drop-off and return to patrol:
- 31-45 minutes
Program Sustainability
- Data collection:
- Yes
- Published evaluation:
- No
- Local media coverage:
- No
- Legislative funding or support:
- No
About this information:
A program representative provided this information details through a detailed survey.
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