To return to the Local Program Example Database, click here
Chicago Crisis Intervention Team
Quick Facts:
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Chicago Police Department
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 13000
- 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:
- 97
Chicago Crisis Intervention Team
Contact:
- Name:
- Jeffry B. Murphy
- Title:
- CIT Coordinator
- Organization:
- Chicago Police Department
- Address:
- 1450 N. Larrabee
Chicago, IL 60610 - Email:
- jeffry.murphy@chicagopolice.org
- Phone:
- 312-337-2853
Agency Information
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Chicago Police Department
- Type of government that operates law enforcement agency:
- Township
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 13000
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:
- There is only one specialized response program in the jurisdiction.
- Background information:
- We began looking into CIT approximentally four years ago after several meetings with public and private mental health providers. Currently we have CIT pilot program being conducted in 2 of our 25 districts. This pilot program began in July 2005. 250 more police officers will be trained within the next 2 years in CIT as part of the Cook County Mental Health Court Project.
- Total number of officers in program:
- 97
- Catchment area:
- Part of the jurisdiction
- Funding source(s):
-
- Police Department
- Federal grant funds
- Staff supported by funding:
-
- Law Enforcement Officer
- Program Coordinator
Program Partners and Personnel
- Existence of planning and oversight committee:
- Yes, formerly
- Committee participants:
-
- Law enforcement line-level staff
- Law enforcement supervisory-level staff
- Law enforcement leadership
- Mental health (and/or substance abuse) leadership
- Mental health or advocacy agencies that participate in program:
- NAMI-GC, Illinois Department of Human Services Office of Mental Health, Equip for Equality,Community Mental Health Council, Grand Prairie Services,Community Counseling Centers of Chicago (C4), more:
- Written agreement of roles and procedures:
- No
- Recruitment and selection:
- Officers volunteer and some are selected.
- 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
- Advanced in-service training for select patrol officers
- 40
- 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
- Community members
- 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
- Legal issues concerning police officer liability
- De-escalation techniques
- Less lethal use of force options
- Suicide prevention
- The role of families and other supports in mental health treatment and recovery
- Advanced training methods:
-
- Presentations (including panels, lectures, and/or PowerPoints)
- Role plays
- Videotapes
- Virtual reality/computerized simulations of mental illness symptoms
Response Procedures
- Standardized dispatch questions:
- Yes
- Dispatch documentation:
- Document in central computer database used for all calls, such as a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system
- Incident documentation by responding officer:
- Don't record information
- Use of information on individuals' mental illness stored in police records:
- Currently, only if a person with mental illness is transported by the police is a report generated to document this transport. Only report that documents a mental illness. We will be able to tell how many mental illness transports were given.
- Mental health professional available to support police responder:
- No
- Officers permitted to transport people with mental illness to services when:
- The person has volunteered to receive mental health treatment
- The person is being brought to a hospital for emergency evaluation
- The person is being brought to a crisis center or other health care facility for stabilization or medications management
- Officers allowed to transport a person without handcuffs:
- No
- Access to drop-off locations:
- Yes. It is open 24 hours a day.
- Procedure for streamlined intake and a "no refusal" policy for police referrals?
- No
- Location of drop-off center(s):
- Psychiatric emergency room in general hospital
- 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:
- No
- Published evaluation:
- No
- Local media coverage:
- Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun Times newspapaers, Channel 5 news, professional journels
- Legislative funding or support:
- No
About this information:
A program representative provided this information details through a detailed survey.
For more information on the survey, read about our methodology or download a pdf of the full survey.
If you are a representative of a similar program not yet listed in our database, please register and take the survey to contribute your information.

