Laurel Highlands Region CIT

Quick Facts:

Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
City of Johnstown PA
Approximate number of officers in agency:
50
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:
31

Laurel Highlands Region CIT

Contact:

Name:
Officer Daniel Marguccio
Title:
CIT Police Coordiantor
Organization:
Luarel Highlands Region Police CIT
Address:
401 Washington St
Johnstown, PA 15901
Email:
cit@laurelhighlandscit.com
Phone:
814-533-2074

Agency Information

Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
City of Johnstown PA
Type of government that operates law enforcement agency:
Township
Approximate number of officers in agency:
50

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:
NAMI Cambria County (PA) initiated the development of a 23 member stakeholder group around developing a local CIT program shortly after holding a Forensics Conference in OCT 2005 where Major Sam Cochran spoke of the Memphis Police Department's CIT. The process included gaining consensus of the stakeholder group( represented by law enforcement, mental health and advocates) to send a 10 person delegation down to Memphis to observe and learn about their program. After deciding to move forward to develop a program of our own, a second trip followled in Oct 2006 with a team of 7 going back to Memphis to take the 40 hour training. This 7 member team consisting of 3 law enforcement, 2 mental health, and 2 advocate representives became the team that would develop the curriculum and drive the implementation of the program here in our region. From conception to implementation, the process took less than a year and a half.
Total number of officers in program:
31
Number of people with mental illness served:
More than 500
Catchment area:
More than one jurisdiction
Funding source(s):
  • Local Mental Health Department
    • Staff supported by funding:

      Program Partners and Personnel

      Existence of planning and oversight committee:
      Yes, currently
      Committee participants:
    • Law enforcement line-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:
      Cambria County MH/MR, Cambria County NAMI, Conmemaugh memorial Hospital Behavioral Helath Dept.
      Written agreement of roles and procedures:
      No
      Recruitment and selection:
      Officers volunteer and all are selected.
      Program coordinator/boundary spanner
      Yes. There are multiple program coordinators
      Police Coordinator- Same, Officer Daniel Marguccio Johnstown Police Dept. 401 Washington St. Johnstown, PA 15901 Ph. 814 533-2074 Email: gooch256@atlanticbb.net Mental Health Coodinator- Patti Costic Cambria County Mental Health 110 Franklin St. Johnstown, PA 15901 Ph. 814-535-8531 Email:pcostic@co.cambria.pa.us NAMI Coordinator- Wendy Stewart 240 Vine St. Johnstown, PA 15901 Ph. 814-535-3166 Email: wstew810@aol.com

      Training on Mental Health Issues

      Types of training on mental health issues:
    • Pre-service training for new recruits at the academy
    • 24 hrs
    • Basic in-service training for all patrol officers
    • 8 hrs
    • Advanced in-service training for select patrol officers
    • 40 hour CIT training
      • 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
    • Ride-alongs
    • Videotapes
    • Virtual reality/computerized simulations of mental illness symptoms
      • Other information on training:
      The Laurel Highlands Region Police CIT Program is committed to adhering to the nationally recognized model CIT Program originating from the Memphis Police Department. In addition, coinciding with our first training of officers, a special team of 12 members were instructed in the Memphis's "Train the Trainers" program under the direction of the Memphis CIT Coordinators Major Sam Cochran and Dr. Randy Dupont enabling our program ot conduct the critical Verbal De-escaltion training in the same format as the nationally recognized program.

      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:
      For compiling data on the number of mental health calls and inforamtion for officers that a subject has mental illness.
      Mental health professional available to support police responder:
    • 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 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:
      If the subject is volunteerily going to the medical center and is cooperative.
      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
      • Length of time for drop-off and return to patrol:
      11-20 minutes

      Program Sustainability

      Data collection:
      No
      Published evaluation:
      No
      Local media coverage:
      The Tribune Democrat newspaper, Johnstown, PA Our Town news paper, Ebensburg, PA Daily American news paper', Somerset, PA The Woman's help Center news letter. WJAC TV news station, Johnstown, PA WTAJ TV news station Altoona, PA
      Legislative funding or support:
      No
      Key to the program's success:
      We are in the infancy of our CIT program and are setting up CIT Data collection Sheets to monitor CIT information throughout the areas our program cover. We currently have 17 different municipalities that make up our program and gathering all the data is a ongoing process.
      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.

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