Crisis Intervention Teams as the Solution to Managing Crises Involving Persons with Serious Psychiatric Illnesses: Does One Size Fit All?

Abstract

Police interactions with persons who display behaviors suggestive of mental illness are extremely common. How officers manage these encounters has significant consequences for the subjects of those encounters, the criminal justice and mental health systems, and for public safety. For the past three decades, the police Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) has gained popularity as the approach for ensuring optimal outcomes of these interactions. Despite this popularity, questions remain about this approach. This article addresses two such questions: (1) What might be alternative models? and (2) What research needs to be implemented to assess the effectiveness of CIT and its impact on the mental health systems in which it is developed? We do not provide empirical answers to these questions; rather we develop a background discussion and plan for a research framework that would address these issues.

KEYWORDS:

• Crisis Intervention Teams
• persons with mental illness
• mental health referrals

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Preparation of this article was supported by a grant from the Sidney T. Baer Foundation. The opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Baer Foundation.