Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Model. Very often, the people who come in contact with individuals in mental health crisis are members of law enforcement. Unfortunately, in Rapides Parish and in other parts of the country, a significant number of instances of police involvement with individuals in mental health crisis have resulted in injury or even death. The three largest law enforcement agencies in Rapides Parish have had several well reported cases of police encounters with individuals in mental health crisis, particularly since the closing of HPLMC. In a recent article in the Town Talk, a local newspaper in Alexandria, Louisiana, Chief of Police Xxxxx Xxxxxxx, recalled a recent incident in early 2015 in which Alexandria police took a man into custody at a local hotel because staff said he had a gun and it was not the first time officers had encountered him. Officers disarmed the same man, who was in mental health crisis, a few days before at the same hotel (Xxxxxxx, 2015). However, this time the response included the department's Special Response Team because the unidentified man was apparently suicidal and armed with a long gun. Part of the hotel was cleared, as were surrounding areas, and traffic had to be diverted from nearby roadways (Xxxxxxx, 2015). One program touted by SAMSHA and NAMI as a successful collaboration between law enforcement and the mental health community in responding to individuals in the community in mental health crisis is the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model (SAMSHA, 2009). This intervention is considered a best practice model for the diversion of those offenders that are mentally ill out of the criminal justice system (NMHA, 2003). CIT is an innovative first- responder model of police-based crisis intervention with community, health care, and advocacy partnerships. The CIT Model was first developed in the city of Memphis, Tennessee, and has spread to communities throughout the country (Cochran, Pillsbury, Xxxxxxxx, & Xxxxxx, 2007). Begun in 1988, the intervention is still known as the “Memphis Model.” CIT provides law enforcement-based crisis intervention training to assist those individuals with a mental illness, and to improve the safety of patrol officers, consumers, family members, and citizens within the community (Xxxxxxx, et al, 2007). Central to the formation and success of CIT is the role of the law enforcement community. Trained CIT officers are able to act in crisis situations using de-escalation techniques that improve the safety of the officer, c...
