The Use of the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Model for Corrections Officers: Reducing Incidents within a County Jail

This study presents an adaptation of the Crisis Intervention Team Model (CIT) to a jail setting. Pre-post surveys and interviews assessed changes in corrections officers’ (CO) knowledge of and attitudes toward mental health. Cell Removal Team (CRT) services assessed the impact of CIT on the use of this specialized unit. Results indicate positive changes in CO attitudes, increased de-escalation skills, and an abrupt decrease in the level of CRT usage, with results sustained in the 8-month follow-up period.

Law enforcement and mental health clinician partnerships in global mental health: outcomes for the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model adaptation in Liberia, West Africa

Background The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model is a law enforcement strategy that aims to build alliances between the law enforcement and mental health communities. Despite its success in the United States, CIT has not been used in low- and middle-income countries. This study assesses the immediate and 9-month outcomes of CIT training on trainee knowledge and attitudes. Methods Twenty-two CIT trainees (14 law enforcement officers and eight mental health clinicians) were evaluated using pre-developed measures assessing knowledge and attitudes related to mental illness. Evaluations were conducted prior to, immediately after, and 9 months post training. Results The CIT training produced improvements both immediately and 9 months post training in knowledge and attitudes, suggesting that CIT can benefit law enforcement officers even in extremely low-resource settings with limited specialized mental health service infrastructure. Conclusion These findings support further exploration of the benefits of CIT in highly under-resourced settings.

A Review of Quality Improvement [QI] Specialised Interventions in the USA and England to Reduce the Number of Police Mental Health Crisis Detentions and Provide Support to High Intensity Utilisers [HIUs]

Background:Key issues in both the USA and England have been how to deal appropriately and effectively with the increasing number of mental health related incidents, in particular 1) the rising number of people with mental health issues detained in police custody until they can be clinically assessed and 2) the negative impact on public safety of the high intensity service users [HIUs] who draw a disproportionate amount of emergency and crisis services and are well known to both police and mental health services.Aims and objectives:To provide an overview of what is known about current quality improvement interventions undertaken to address these two key issuesi.e.reducing both the number of police mental health crisis detention and the disproportionate amount of emergency and crisis service usage [police, ambulance, ED] from HIUs with complex mental health problems to help inform policy and practice decisions in a context of lack of best evidence and lack of evidence based studies.Methods:PubMed and Google Scholar were searched to undertake a narrative synthesis of what is known of the various quality improvement interventions that have been introduced in both the USA and England to address these two key issues. Authors’ knowledge was also used to describe two quality improvement interventions not included/not yet listed in Google Scholar or PubMed.Results:In the USA, the dominant approach to reduce mental health police detentions is the CIT model, first introduced in 1988, now increasingly implemented with the addition of the older model of police and mental health co-responder (which go back several decades earlier) to increase its effectiveness. The CIT model has been adopted and spread worldwide despite methodological shortcomings in evaluations. Although a best evidence model with increasing data being gathered on effectiveness, it has yet to become an evidence based model. The Street Triage models introduced in England in 2012 were inspired by the older police and mental health co-responder model. Despite a primarily descriptive approach and methodological shortcomings in evaluations and only a handful of studies published, ST has also been widely adopted and spread within England. Only a handful of interventions have focussed on supporting HIUs with the implementation in England of a unique model but evolving model of integrating a police officer within a multi-disciplinary mentoring style intervention which has now adopted by other English police forces and could usefully be adopted by USA police forces.Conclusion:More data need to be systematically gathered on effectiveness and analysed against a range of clear success criteria, including a cost benefit analysis of the relative merits of their different variations before and in order that they can be called evidence-based models.

The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Model for Law Enforcement: Creative Considerations for Enhancing University Campus Police Response to Mental Health Crisis

Purpose of the article American university and college campus law enforcement, like their peers in American munipal law enforcement agencies, find themselves interacting frequently with civilians experiencing mental health disturbances. An innovative model for law enforcement, the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model, has been developed to address the difficulties law enforcement professionals and civilians in mental health crisis face during encounters. (Margolis & Shtull, 2012) This article explores how CIT can enhance police response to mental health crisis on the college campus. Methodology/methods Methods of applied research were conducted, borrowing from a benchmarking model and including interviews with multiple key informants representing law enforcement and mental health. Informants were affiliated with three universities and multiple municipal jurisdictions in Virginia, USA. Scientific goal The goal was to assess the relevance of CIT on the college campus and explore creative approaches to enhancing campus police response to mental health crisis. Findings The results supported the scholarly literature regarding the efficacy of the CIT model. Creative adaptations to the CIT model for campus possibly can be implemented to address concerns of mental health crisis on campus. Conclusions CIT is a highly innovative model requiring extensive collaboration between law enforcement, mental health agencies, and mental health advocates. As standard qualitative research was not conducted, the sample size of key informants may not have reached saturation. However, findings from the interviews support the body of literature on CIT. The implementation of CIT on the college campus could possibly help to alleviate difficulties on campus arising from mental health crisis, including reducing inappropriate arrest or disciplinary action, improving campus safety, addressing concerns related to threat assessment and management, and enhancing collaborative efforts on campus and with resources in the broader community.

Characterization of ozone transport among metropolitan regions

The aim of this work is to determine the interaction in terms of ozone transport between two metropolitan regions of São Paulo State: The Metropolitan Region of Campinas (MRC) and Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (MRSP), with different characteristics and dimensions. In order to describe the interaction between both regions, 3-D Eulerian photochemical CIT model was used with a new approach for São Paulo regions since most previous studies deal with individual areas considering the contribution of other areas only as boundary conditions. The results from the photochemical simulations showed that the ozone concentration in the MRC is associated to local emissions and the transport of ozone and its precursors from the MRSP, demonstrating the significant impact of a megacity in its neighborhood and the importance of meteorological and topography conditions in the transport of air pollutants from the local source to distant regions.