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South Portland Crisis Intervention Team
Quick Facts:
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- South Portland Police Department
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 52
- 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:
- 13
South Portland Crisis Intervention Team
Contact:
- Name:
- Frank Clark
- Title:
- Lt.
- Organization:
- South Portland Police Department
- Address:
- 30 Anthoine Street
South Portland, ME - Email:
- francl@southportland.org
- Phone:
- 207.799.9720 x242
Agency Information
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- South Portland Police Department
- Type of government that operates law enforcement agency:
- Township
- Approximate number of officers in agency:
- 52
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:
- The CIT program began in 2002, after the model was brought to Maine by NAMI-Maine and Portland PD. The training was offered to officers in the Greater Portland area, including South Portland, and has expanded from there.
- Total number of officers in program:
- 13
- Number of people with mental illness served:
- 201-500
- Catchment area:
- The entire jurisdiction
- Staff supported by funding:
Program Partners and Personnel
- Existence of planning and oversight committee:
- No (please proceed to question 17)
- Mental health or advocacy agencies that participate in program:
- NAMI-Maine, Ingraham Volunteers, Sweetser Services,
- 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 an advocacy agency
- Karen Lenzen Criminal Justice Manager NAMI Maine ~ Advocating for Healthy Minds 1 Bangor Street Augusta, Maine 04330 1-800-464-5767
Training on Mental Health Issues
- Types of training on mental health issues:
-
- Pre-service training for new recruits at the academy
- 8 hours
- Basic in-service training for all patrol officers
- 8 hours
- Basic in-service training for select patrol officers
- 40 hours
- Advanced in-service training for select patrol officers
- 16 hours/year
- 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
- 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
- Advanced training methods:
-
- Presentations (including panels, lectures, and/or PowerPoints)
- Role plays
- Site visits to community mental health facilities
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
- Record information in an arrest report
- Use of information on individuals' mental illness stored in police records:
- Some info passed on to hospital during emergency protective custody situations.
- 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 has volunteered to receive mental health treatment
- The person is being brought to a hospital for emergency evaluation
- Officers allowed to transport a person without handcuffs:
- "Least restrictive means" available, given the facts and circumstances.
- 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?
- Yes
- 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:
- No
- 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.