Seattle Crisis Intervention Team

Overview

Jurisdiction Level

Municipal

Description

The Seattle CIT program is based on the Memphis model and is very similar in most respects. Unlike Memphis, however, Seattle does not provide specialty pay for CIT officers, and the selection of personnel and job assignment procedures are different. CIT officers are in every patrol unit. Patrol officers responding to a call that involves a person with a mental illness will call in a CIT officer as necessary. CIT officers must undergo a 40-hour training course, which is conducted by local mental health professionals. As of 2001, Seattle had 203 CIT-trained officers and 160 actively working in patrol. In addition, Seattle CIT staff work closely with the Seattle Mental Health Court.

To complement the CIT program, King County health care providers have developed a Crisis Triage Unit Center for people in crisis. The unit is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is available for officers to bring individuals who appear to have a serious mental illness. Officers are not asked to diagnose individuals in crisis. As a result, many of the people brought into the triage unit may be abusing drugs or may have other conditions that can mimic the symptoms of mental illness. The crisis triage unit has agreed to accept individuals in crisis regardless of their diagnosis

Seattle is currently attempting to replicate a program that Albuquerque has developed called “team within a team.” In this program, a detective is assigned to the Crisis Intervention Team and serves as a liaison with the Mental Health Court, mental health practitioners, and the community. The detective can provide follow-up, be on call for the court, and go out on appointments with mental health providers as needed. This officer is also responsible for following up on cases that would normally fall through the cracks when an incident is largely the result of untreated mental illness and is basically noncriminal (e.g., a dispute between neighbors). Albuquerque has four detectives assigned to these tasks.