40 hr. Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) E. Moline

A CIT program consists of a team of sworn officers who receive intensive specialized training in dealing with individuals in the community who have a mental illness. CIT members provide an immediate response to calls involving a mental health crisis situation.

Topics will include:

Mental Health Signs and Symptoms                                          Hearing Voices Exercise

Homeless Issues                                                                          Child & Adolescent Disorders

Geriatric Issues                                                                          Co-Occurring Disorders

Compliant Surrender & Tactical Response                               Veterans’ Issues

Risk Assessment & L.E. Response / Legal Issues                     Medical Conditions & Psychotropics

Virtual Hallucination Machine                                                   Scenario-based Role Playing

Autism                                                                                        Excited Delirium

What Is CIT?

A Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program consists of a team of law enforcement officers which has received intensive specialized training on dealing with individuals in the community who have a mental illness or other behavioral disability. CIT officers provide an immediate response to calls involving a mental health crisis situation.

The goal is for each participating law enforcement agency to have at least one CIT officer available on each shift, but these officers also perform their regular duty assignments. This is not envisioned as a call-out situation since immediacy of response is what makes the program successful along with application of viable interaction techniques.

The “team” concept involves law enforcement involvement with stakeholder agencies as well as interagency mutual assistance agreements whereby participating CIT departments agree to provide CIT coverage for one another as circumstances may dictate and where a CIT department may not have an available CIT officer on a shift at the time that a situation requiring such expertise is received. Community members can easily identify CIT officers by a standardized “CIT” pin worn on officers’ uniforms.

These officers are also expected to find opportunities to interact with these individuals when they are not in a crisis situation. For example, CIT officers may attend community meetings at service agencies or may do “well-being” checks with individuals with whom they have become familiar. It is expected that the CIT team will build relationships and cultivate partnerships with area service providers beginning during their CIT training and continuing over time.