of Bucks County
Pennsylvania
Bucks County's Voice on Mental Illness
NAMI PA
Bucks County
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Bucks County's Voice on Mental Illness
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MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS Number 1-800-499-7455
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CIT UPDATE Bucks County group traveled to Memphis in July 2008 to meet with developers of the Memphis Model of CIT. We spent 2 days in orientation training and riding with CIT officers on their shifts to see firsthand the demonstration of skills in practice. (story below) The group includes 2 Bensalem police officers, representatives of Bucks Co Behavioral Health Service, Lenape Valley Foundation and NAMI Bucks members and representatives. They are pictured here with Major Sam Cochran (back row, right) and 4 Memphis police officers Bucks County goes to Memphis posted August 28, 2008 In mid-July 2008, eight representatives of Bucks County’s CIT Task Force traveled to Memphis to study the Crisis Intervention Team on-site with the originators and developers of the Memphis Model of CIT Training. We spent 2 schedule-packed days meeting with Major Sam Cochran of the Memphis Police Department and Dr. Randolph Dupont of the University of Memphis Criminal Justice Dept., riding with CIT officers, learning about less-than-lethal weapons, and discussing particulars with relation to adapting the training program to Bucks County. We visited “The Med”, the medical center where police drop off people in crisis for evaluation. Coincidentally, the crisis center is managed by a former Bucks County resident. Major Cochran and Dr. Dupont are renowned experts in police training and have hosted groups from as far away as Australia and Israel to assist communities in setting up their training. They developed the Memphis Model of CIT training over 20 years ago. As part of our 2 day orientation, we met with CIT- trained Memphis police officers. Each of us rode with a CIT officer on his/ her full shift This enabled us to view firsthand the methods they have at their disposal when responding to a call involving a person with mental illness. Specially trained 911 dispatchers identify the call and track the nearest CIT officer who, upon arriving at the scene, takes the lead in handling the situation. An incident which resolved safely involved a 60-year old resident of a group home who had become upset and was creating a disturbance, shouting profanities and banging on furnishings. The manager of the group home, unable to calm the resident, called for a CIT officer who arrived with one of our Bucks County NAMI group. It was thought that there may have been alteration of medication dosing. The responding CIT officer then transported the individual to the Med, which is Memphis’ Crisis Center for evaluation. Had the crisis gotten out of hand, the CIT officer was fully prepared to de-escalate the situation. Transporting an individual in crisis is a key component of the CIT. It is key to have an option for an officer to allow him/her to return to patrol quickly rather than spend hours in an Emergency Room waiting for evaluation with the individual. Another of our group rode with a female CIT officer who paid a visit to a group home where the residents greeted her by name and seemed genuinely pleased to see us. The officer knows each resident’s name and history. They enjoyed the attention and interruption of their otherwise routine day. It often evolves that officers who are part of the CIT become advocates for those with mental illness. It has been reported on occasion that the subject of a call does not wish to speak to anyone other than a CIT officer. They know they will be treated with dignity and respect, and most important, that they will be understood. CIT Training is a law enforcement based program which provides advanced specialized training to uniformed police officers about mental illness and critical crisis de-escalation skills to resolve a crisis safely when a person with mental illness is involved. Based upon a 40- hour program developed in Memphis after an individual with mental illness was shot and killed by police, it is designated “Best Practice” by the U.S. Dept of Justice. Police officers typically receive several hours of mental illness training as part of their recruit training program. However, due to the increasing frequency of these incidents, a more in-depth background in mental illness is becoming a necessary tool for officers to resolve a crisis safely. Additionally, the goal of CIT training is to have officers assist in transporting an individual to appropriate drop-off evaluation/ treatment facilities rather than arrest and incarcerate the subject. The prisons and jails in this country have become housing facilities for people with mental illness, resulting in overcrowding of these institutions. Often people incarcerated for a minor offense or for causing a disturbance are confused, frightened and do not improve during their imprisonment. We returned with enough information and tools to begin planning a CIT program to offer to police here in Bucks County. The training is voluntary and not every officer may be suited. They undergo a screening process when they apply. The next step is to have the members of the task force attend the full 40-hour training to gain insight into our own planning process. County Behavioral Health and hospital officials are in planning stages to have a crisis triage center set up to streamline crisis response. A mobile crisis team is in the works with case managers to work with police in response to mental health crisis calls. CIT is not a panacea, but it represents a sincere effort to improve the system here. Our family members and loved ones will not need to fear encounters with police any longer, and police officers will be safer and will feel more confident and capable of handling these incidents once this program has been put in place. For more information, please call our office at 215-442-5637 or see our website http://namibucks.org/CrisisInterventionTeamTraining.htm _______________________________________ NAMI and Bucks Officials Visit Camden County NJ CIT posted March 2008 In March, a group of Bucks County officials accompanied members of the CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) Workgroup to Camden County, NJ to study the CIT system which has been in effect there since Fall 2007. The trip afforded members of the group an opportunity to see firsthand the Crisis Response Center operated by Steininger Behavioral Care Services of Cherry Hill. The Center provides a place where police officers can bring individuals in crisis and, after filling out some paperwork, return to their patrols in short order, leaving the individual in the care of mental health professionals. The CIT workgroup has been advocating for a program of this type in Bucks Co. as one means to reduce arrest and incarceration of individuals with mental illness. This would result in them getting the treatment that can help, rather than entering the criminal justice system, which often results in a downward spiral for these individuals. Bucks Co officials and NAMI members with Chief Garrity and Loyal Ownes, Dir., Crisis Response Center. The purpose of the trip was to meet with officials in Camden County to learn how the system was implemented there, with an eye toward improving the crisis services here in Bucks County. The group, which included representatives of the Office of Bucks County Commissioners, the Dept. of Corrections; Bucks Co. MH/MR; Behavioral Health; Adult Probation and Parole; Voice and Vision, and law enforcement, met with Collingswood Police Department’s Chief Thomas Garrity who explained the philosophy of CIT as based on the premise that all people deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, regardless of their illnesses. Bucks Co law enforcement officers have been understandably frustrated by the lengthy waits that can sometimes be involved in their attending individuals in Crisis Centers and Emergency Rooms through the medical and psychiatric evaluation process. An officer can spend an average of 4 hours waiting with an individual for such evaluations. The wait time is a crucial point in their decision whether to bring the individual in for possible treatment or to take them to jail. All too often, with the need to return to their patrol responsibilities in a timely fashion, police interactions result in the individual being arrested and incarcerated for a minor offense. The Collingswood Police Dept is the first in the state of NJ to implement CIT training based on the proven Memphis program which was developed in 1988. Chief Garrity is an enthusiastic proponent of CIT but, in his words, this has not always been the case. According to Chief Garrity, his trip to Memphis TN to examine the way the model works brought about a change of heart in the chief, who has been in law enforcement over 20 years. Previously, he handled calls involving a person with mental illness in as humane and understanding a way as possible, however he was hampered by lack of advanced specialized training on mental illness. Collingswood’s 21 trained officers now can employ advanced skills in de-escalating situations that previously had the potential to become incidents ending in arrest, and sometimes injury to the individual or the officer. Law enforcement will continue to be the first responding ‘care-givers’ to the scene of persons in crisis. Not every officer is suited to take the training and history shows that those who volunteer are the most successful. In any call involving a person with mental illness, the CIT officer, identified by a special “CIT” lapel pin, is dispatched immediately, and upon arrival, takes the lead in handling the incident. Officers are advised to arrive without lights and sirens both of which can be terrifying to an individual in crisis. Also to introduce themselves as a CIT officer, keep their hands out in front of them, speak softly, obtain the person’s name, name of their doctor, if any, and types of medications they may be taking. The object is to de-escalate the situation. Police officers are trained to take control of a situation and do so with force, if needed. This does not work when the individual has a mental illness. 20 years of CIT history have developed proven methods that often resolve an incident at the point of origin, necessitating neither arrest nor treatment. However, when treatment or an evaluation is called for, a crisis response center must be available for police to ‘drop-off’ the person, provided there is no aggressive or violent behavior. NAMI is pleased to note that serious consideration is being given to steps needed to provide such a drop-off center here in Bucks County. CIT may not be a panacea, but it is a vital step in the decriminalization effort. The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program is a model program that has been implemented in numerous communities, large and small, across the country. This program involves: (1) special law enforcement training, (2) special dispatch procedures, (3) the availability of appropriate, timely, and law enforcement-friendly acute crisis care alternatives to jail, and (4) effective aftercare and follow-up. The National Alliance on Mental Illness established as part of its policy a strategy of “adopting programs such as the Memphis Police Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Program.” It is encouraging that about 500 police departments nationwide have implemented the Memphis Model CIT program. . The CIT program is a community effort, enjoining both the police and the community together for common goals of safety, understanding and service to those with mental illness and their families. It has been hailed by the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Dept of Justice as "Best Practice." Bucks County deserves the best! For more information on the CIT effort see our website http://namibucks.org/CrisisInterventionTraining.htm or call our office 215-442-5637. |
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