A Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Program is

Lt. Col. Jon Belmar, Co-Chair
Sergeant Lawrence White,
Co-Chair
St. Louis County Police Department
7900 Forsyth Boulevard
St. Louis, Missouri 63105
314.615.2551
Email: [email protected]
Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department
1125 Locust Street
Kansas City, MO 64106
816.234.5000
Email: [email protected]
Participating Local
CIT Councils
Franklin County CIT Council
Greene County CIT Council
Jefferson County CIT Council
Linn County CIT Council
Mid America (Kansas City Area)
CIT Council
Mid Missouri CIT Council
A Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Program is:
…a law enforcement program done in collaboration with the mental health
treatment community that began in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1988. It recruits,
trains and supports law enforcement to respond effectively to incidents involving
individuals experiencing a mental health crisis. As a result, those individuals will
not be unnecessarily jailed because of behavior resulting from their illness but
will instead gain access to emergency, inpatient, and community-based mental
health treatment services.
Program Objectives are to:
-
Nevada-Vernon County CIT
Council
St. Charles / Lincoln / Warren
County CIT Council
-
St. Francois County CIT Council
St. Louis Area CIT Council
Participating Statewide
Organizations
Missouri Dept. of Health
and Senior Services
Missouri Department
of Mental Health
Missouri Department
of Public Safety
NAMI Missouri
Train law enforcement officers to distinguish threatening behavior based on a
mental illness rather than criminal intent, and to respond accordingly;
Reduce injuries to law enforcement officers and individuals with mental
illness that may result from crisis interventions, through training of skills in
tactical communications and crisis de-escalation techniques;
Reduce time required for transfer of custody from law enforcement to hospital
personnel, so law enforcement may more quickly return to service;
Reduce recidivism of individuals who are high utilizers of law enforcement
and mental health resources, by implementing assertive outreach and
engagement activities for individuals subject to CIT interventions, so that
even those who have poor self-insight, deny their psychiatric condition, are
non-compliant to treatment and difficult to serve, may be successfully linked
to treatment services.
A CIT Program (“Memphis Model”) consists of:
-
Multi-agency / multi-organization Coordinating Councils
Law enforcement letters of intent to participate
Law enforcement agency CIT policies and procedures
CIT Officer recruitment strategies
CIT 40-hour P.O.S.T.-certified Training Courses
CIT Officer Advanced In-Service Training on such topics as law enforcement
response to mental health crises of children and veterans of foreign war
Call-taker and dispatch orientation and training
Effective CIT interventions with individuals in psychiatric distress
Completion and filing of CIT intervention reports
Program evaluation.
Local CIT Programs are currently established in:
…ten urban and rural communities in Missouri as of January 31, 2014 (see list on
left sidebar). This is an increase of two councils since spring, 2013. Three other
areas in Missouri are currently organizing new councils.
Representing Over 100 Missouri Agencies
The Missouri CIT Council is:
…a collaboration of law enforcement and mental health professionals, consumers and family
members from across the state, committed to serving individuals with mental illness and other
brain disorders, by implementing a statewide CIT Program based on the “Memphis Model”.
The Missouri CIT Council provides:
…advice, counsel and assistance to local law enforcement agencies in Missouri wishing to
establish a Memphis Model CIT Program for their communities. To help accomplish this, the
Missouri CIT Council has funds available to it through the Mo. Dept. of Mental Health (DMH).
The Objectives of the CIT Expansion Grant Program from DMH is:
…to nurture expansion of CIT within existing CIT Programs and establish additional CIT
Planning Committees or Coordinating Councils Missouri communities where a CIT Program
does not currently exist..
The CIT Expansion Grant from DMH provides incentive funding may pay for
such expenses as:
-
-
Costs for meeting room and meal expenses for a Community CIT Orientation event directed
to community leadership in law enforcement, mental health, and advocacy.
Per diem costs to enable two law enforcement officers, who would be assuming leadership
functions for their community's new CIT Program, to attend a CIT Training Course being
offered by a currently existing CIT Program.
Officer overtime expenses to enable police officers from new CIT Programs to attend a
Memphis Model CIT Training Course authorized by their local CIT Coordinating Council.
Travel, room, board for one person from up to five communities to attend the annual CIT
International Conference. Information about this conference is available at
http://citconferences.org/
The Mental Health Provider Community can contribute to CIT expansion by:
-
-
-
Contacting leadership of law enforcement agencies and consumer/family mental health
advocacy organizations, to inform them of your interest to assist in establishing a CIT
Program for their community.
Planning and implementing a Community CIT Orientation event that will bring together
leadership of stakeholder groups from a community to learn about the benefits of CIT,
leading to formation of a steering committee to establish CIT.
Actively participating in any steering committee or Coordinating Council established in
communities you serve, charged to plan and implement a new CIT Program.
Providing lecturers and role players, and hosting site visits, that are part of 40-hour CIT
Training Courses offered to law enforcement personnel in communities you serve.
Actively participating in efforts to gain access to ongoing community-based mental health
services for individuals who were subject to a CIT intervention.
For more information, contact:
-
Lt. Col. Jon Belmar, St. Louis County Police Department, [email protected]
Cynthia Kliethermes, Mo Department of Mental Health, [email protected]
Sgt. Jeremy Romo, St. Louis County Police Department, [email protected]
Richard Stevenson, NAMI St. Louis, [email protected]
Nelson Thompson, NAMI Kansas City, [email protected]
Sgt. Lawrence White, Kansas City Police Department, [email protected]