Law Enforcement

Crisis Intervention Behavioral Health Training

A Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program is a model for community policing that brings together law enforcement, mental health providers, hospital emergency departments and individuals with mental illness and their families to improve responses to people in crisis. CIT programs enhance communication, identify mental health resources for assisting people in crisis and ensure that officers get the training and support they need.  

On October 3, 2015, Governor Brown, signed into law Senate Bill 11 and Senate Bill 29.   The resulting laws mandate mental health training for Field Training Officers (FTO), an increase in hours in Learning Domain 37 of the Regular Basic Course, and POST to create, maintain, and make available a three hour mental health course. 

PC 13515.28(a) (1) :   Field Training Officers (FTO) will complete 8 hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training (CIT) as follows; FTOs are exempted if they have attended; 

• a 40 hour CIT course or 
• an 8 hour or more CIT course since October 3, 2013, that meets the criteria enumerated in PC13515.28(a)(1)  

​
PC 13515.29(a) ​: Field Training Officers shall have 4 hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training as part of the Field Training Officer Course

PC 13515.29(a) ​FTOs are required to have 4 hours of training (in addition to the mandated 8 hours of training required by PC 13515(a)(1) as a part of the Field Training Officer Course. POST is working with subject matter experts to incorporate the 4 hours of CIT training into the FTO course on or before October 3, 2016.  The FTO course will remain at 40 hours.

PC 13515.27(a) : POST shall develop and make available three hours of training to law enforcement personnel as it relates to behavioral health 

More info:  www.post.ca.gov/crisis-intervention-behavioral-health-training.aspx 

News

Mental Health And Police Violence: How Crisis Intervention Teams Are Failing, NPR September 2020

CA to be First State in the Country to Provide Mental Health Awareness Training for All 911 Dispatchers, September, 2019

Governor proposes Support for State-Local Partnerships to Reduce Incompetent to Stand Trial (IST) Admissions in 2018-19 Budget

• The Budget proposes using $114.8 million General Fund over three years to support state-local partnerships to reduce the growing number of IST commitments referred to state hospitals.
• The goal is to strengthen existing local mental health treatment efforts, develop or enhance diversion programs, and therefore reduce IST referrals by up to 30 percent. The IST pending placement list was approximately 840 individuals in December 2017 compared to 600 in December 2016.
• The programs will focus on diverting individuals with mental illness who have committed felony crimes to prevent entry or reentry into the criminal justice system. Contracts will be prioritized with the 15 counties that have the majority of IST referral to develop and expand diversion programs. It will support up to 640 placements, as well as 60 additional community placements in other counties.
• An additional $14.8 million General Fund will support a partnership with Los Angeles County for up to 150 IST patients to be served in one of three levels of community-based programming.
• $2.5 million in state-level Mental Health Service Act (MHSA) Administration funding will be directed to the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) to provide two years of consulting services to aid counties in developing IST diversion programs.
• Other investments to address the IST placement issue include $53 million General Fund to provide forensic placements at Metropolitan State Hospital, $16 million General Fund to continue contracts with counties for jail-based competency restoration programs, and $11.5 million General Fund to  support 80 beds for Mentally Disordered Offender patients which frees up beds to accommodate IST referrals.

Programs

Training Tennessee Highway Patrol Officers in Suicide Prevention, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention

Resources

Set, Measure, Achieve to establish and reach measurable goals that demonstrate reduced prevalence of mental illness in jails. The Stepping Up Initiative

Cultural Diversity and Disability Training for Law Enforcement, POST

Crisis Intervention Services Toolkit, CIBHS

BJA Launches Police-Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit,
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA):  This provides links to learn about Police-Mental Health Collaboration (PMHC) Programs, Planning, Implementation, Managing, and Measuring Collaboration Performance.

Law Enforcement and Mental Health, NAMI - Topics Include:

1. Crisis Intervention Teams
2. Strengthening Officer Resilience
3. Safeguarding Officer Mental Health after Mass Casualty Events

​
The Crisis Intervention Team Model of Police Response to Mental Health Crises:  A Primer for Mental Health Practicioners, 2012, US National Library of Medicine