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Windsor Crisis Intervention Team
Quick Facts:
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Windsor 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:
- 19
Windsor Crisis Intervention Team
Contact:
- Name:
- Shannon Haynes
- Title:
- Professional Standards Lieutenant
- Organization:
- Windsor Police Department
- Address:
- 340 Bloomfield Avenue
Windsor, CT - Email:
- haynes@townofwindsorct.com
- Phone:
- 860-688-4545 ext 538
Agency Information
- Name of coordinating law enforcement agency:
- Windsor 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:
- Our program began with a mental health committee within Town Government recognizing the need to provide additional training to police on the proper handling of mentally ill citizens.
- Total number of officers in program:
- 19
- Number of people with mental illness served:
- 101-200
- Catchment area:
- The entire jurisdiction
- Funding source(s):
- Police Department
- Staff supported by funding:
- Law Enforcement Officer
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
- Mental health or advocacy agencies that participate in program:
- Community Health Resources
- 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:
-
- Basic in-service training for select patrol officers
- 40 hrs
- Advanced in-service training for select patrol officers
- 6-24 hrs/yr
- Number of officers who receive advanced training:
- 1-50
- Groups who conducts advanced training:
-
- 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
- The role of families and other supports in mental health treatment and recovery
- Advanced training methods:
- Presentations (including panels, lectures, and/or PowerPoints)
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 in a field encounter form, or other form used to document every citizen encounter
- Record information in an arrest report
- Record information in log maintained by mental health personnel at the crisis drop-off location or by some other mental health organization
- Use of information on individuals' mental illness stored in police records:
- Data is used to develop a need for funding and services.
- 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
- 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:
- Handcuffing is dependent on the situation. Police DO NOT transport. Transport is by ambulance, unless extreme situations exist.
- Access to drop-off locations:
- No. (proceed to question 38)
- Length of time for drop-off and return to patrol:
- 0-10 minutes
Program Sustainability
- Data collection:
- No
- Published evaluation:
- No
- Local media coverage:
- Yes.
- Legislative funding or support:
- No
- Key to the program's success:
- We are currently working to establish a comprehensive data collection system to better understand the extent of our interaction with citizens in crisis.
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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