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CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) Training
Quick Facts:
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Charlotte County Sheriff's Department
- Primary specialized response:
- Mental health providers, often as members of a mobile crisis team, are called in by law enforcement to provide crisis intervention at the scene.
- Program start year:
- 2005 or earlier
- Total number of officers in program:
- 30
- Jurisdiction Level
- county
- Jurisdiction Type
- suburban
- Age Level
- adult
- Criminal Justice System Focus
- DIVERSION & SPECIALTY COURTS
CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) Training
Contact:
- Name:
- Sharon Salter
- Title:
- Mental Health Court Program Manager
- Address:
- 1700 Education Avenue
Punta Gorda, Florida 33950 - Email:
- ssalter@cbhcfl.org
- Phone:
- 941-639-8300 x251
Agency Information
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Charlotte County Sheriff's Department
- Type of government that operates law enforcement agency:
- County or Parish
Specialized Response Description
- Program start year:
- 2005 or earlier
- Primary specialized response:
- Mental health providers, often as members of a mobile crisis team, are called in by law enforcement to provide crisis intervention at the scene.
- Secondary specialized response:
- Police officers are trained to provide crisis intervention services and to act as liaisons to the mental health system.
- Background information:
- A Mobile Crisis team of trained mental health professionals respond to on-scene crisis calls from Sheriff's Dept. and Punta Gorda police and provide intervention and referral. In 2009 CIT training was begun with law enforcement officers.
- Total number of officers in program:
- 30
- Number of people with mental illness served:
- 0-50
- Catchment area:
- The entire jurisdiction
- Funding source(s):
-
- Community Mental Health Service Provider
- Federal grant funds
- Staff supported by funding:
- MH Service Provider (e.g. case manager, social worker)
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
- housing administration
- Mental health or advocacy agencies that participate in program:
- Charlotte Behavioral Health Care; Coastal Behavioral Healthcare; Beacon Clinic
- Written agreement of roles and procedures:
- No
- Recruitment and selection:
- Officers volunteer and all are selected.
- Program coordinator/boundary spanner
- Yes. The program coordinator represents a mental health agency
- Sharon Salter, MA, LMHC Criminal Justice Behavioral Health Advisory Council Charltote Behavioral Health Care 1700 Education Avenue, Punta Gorda, FL 33950 941-639-8300 x 251
Training on Mental Health Issues
- Types of training on mental health issues:
-
- Pre-service training for new recruits at the academy
- Basic in-service training for all patrol officers
- Basic in-service training for dispatchers and / or call takers
- Advanced in-service training for select patrol officers
- 40
- CIT
- Number of officers who receive advanced training:
- 1-50
- 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
- Site visits to community mental health facilities
- Videotapes
- Virtual reality/computerized simulations of mental illness symptoms
Response Procedures
- Standardized dispatch questions:
- Not Sure
- Dispatch documentation:
- Not sure
- Incident documentation by responding officer:
- Record information in an arrest report
- Use of information on individuals' mental illness stored in police records:
- Pretrial services and jail medical staff
- Mental health professional available to support police responder:
-
- Yes, on site (e.g. mobile crisis team)
- Yes, both on-site and remotely
- 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 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 / crisis center
- Drop-off center accepts people with co-occurring substance abuse disorders:
- Yes
- Length of time for drop-off and return to patrol:
- 11-20 minutes
Program Sustainability
- Data collection:
- Yes
- Published evaluation:
- Yes.
- Local media coverage:
- Yes.
- Legislative funding or support:
- Yes.
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.
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