Police Crisis Intervention Training and De-escalation Techniques in Cases of Mental Health
By: Aditya Krishnaswamy
Tags: Prison Reform, Mental Health, Police Reform

By: Aditya Krishnaswamy, Karan Pol, and Anita Qualls

Thesis:

Enabling officers to effectively respond to mental health crises, the Georgia General Assembly should mandate Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training for all law enforcement officers prior to certification.

Background Analysis:

One quarter of all police shootings in 2015 involved encounters with mentally-ill individuals who are sixteen times more likely to be killed than those without mental illness. [i] , [ii] The shooting of Georgia Institute of Technology student Scout Schultz by campus police demonstrates that this dynamic rings true in the state of Georgia. [iii] Poor police training results in an instinct to draw guns in an encounter where a weapon or uncooperative individual is present, which leads to casualties and incarceration. [iv]

In effect, poor training results in harm to the mentally ill — death, incarceration, or injury. [v] CIT training was established with the goal of bringing together police, mental health providers, emergency departments, and other relevant parties to improve resources available for the mentally ill. [vi] Georgia offers CIT training at the state’s Public Safety Training Center at no cost to officers, providing classes in various counties throughout the state, but this remains optional. [vii] In Georgia, 1.4 million adults have some form of mental illness. [viii] Nationally, mental illnesses are present in about 20% of the prison population. [ix] Taxpayers, mental health professionals, the mentally ill, and law enforcement are the primary stakeholders in this situation.These key stakeholders are negatively affected by poor mental health training, demanding immediate action in the face of rising mental illness, where numbers have doubled since 1980, with clear and steady increases since the 1930s. [x] , [xi]

Talking Points:

● Currently in Georgia, CIT training is only required for state agents and GBI officers, not local officers at the county, city, or college campus levels. [xii]

● Minimal de-escalation police training results in an instinct to draw guns in an encounter where a weapon or uncooperative individual is present, which leads to increased casualties and incarceration. [xiii]

● CIT training leads to lower arrest rates and significantly lower associated criminal justice costs. [xiv]

Policy Idea:

Law enforcement officers serve as the gatekeepers to mental health and criminal justice systems. CIT Training is a nation-wide program available to all sworn law enforcement officers that provides specialized training on mental health calls. [xv] Currently in Georgia, CIT training is only required for state agents and Georgia Bureau of Investigators (GBI) officers, not local officers at the county, city, or college campus levels. [xvi] To ensure officers can effectively respond to mental health crises, all incoming and current officers should be required to complete CIT Training for certification.

Policy Analysis:

Georgia law enforcement officers graduate from the state’s academy with four hours of basic training on crisis intervention and six hours on mental health and substance abuse. [xvii] There is no evidence that this minimal training provides officers with the sufficient knowledge and de-escalation skills to deal with mental health crises. [xviii] CIT training provides extensive 40-hour training on mental health crises by requiring officers to engage with local psychiatric emergency services and other health providers. [xix]

Through Georgia’s public safety training center, Georgia provides free CIT training to all law enforcement officers. [xx] The training remains voluntary, despite GBI pushes for mental health training to move from four to forty hours. [xxi] In the face of increased mental health casualties through police encounters, mandatory CIT training has been introduced in many cities and states across the country, including the state of Washington, Austin, Texas, and Memphis, Tennessee. [xxii] , [xxiii] , [xxiv] Due to pre-existing legislation across the country and recent events there is a strong case for such a mandate in Georgia. [xxv] Approximately 10% of all police contacts with the public involve persons with serious mental illnesses, but only 11,000 out of 56,000 Georgia officers have the specialized CIT training. [xxvi] , [xxvii] CIT training leads to lower arrest rates and significantly lower associated criminal justice costs. [xxviii] In Georgia, with a prison population over 60,000, the cost to incarcerate one person for a year is $21,000 dollars, with high rates of recidivism following incarceration. [xxix] , [xxx] Statewide CIT training will increase collaboration amongst law enforcement and health care services in Georgia and may improve incarceration rates and public safety.

Next Steps:

Due to its dedication to mental illness and education through CIT training, NAMI Georgia should pilot this proposed CIT certification requirement in select police departments across Georgia. The pilot study should assess law enforcement officers before and after the police academy training to gauge improvement in knowledge and ability to effectively handle crises. Following collaboration with the Georgia House of Representatives Study Committee on Mental Illness Initiative, Reform, Public Health, and Safety, a bill should be introduced to the General Assembly requiring CIT Training as part of the licensure process for all law enforcement officers. The GBI and NAMI Georgia Chapter are key allies for lobbying and connecting to the Georgia General Assembly, which allocates the budget towards CIT Training programs throughout the state.

Key Facts: (75–100 words)

● Individuals living with mental illness are sixteen times more likely to be killed in a police encounter. [xxxi]

● At the time of the Georgia Tech shooting, only 25% of the university’s police force had CIT certification. [xxxii]

● Approximately 10% of all police contacts with the public involve persons with serious mental illnesses, but only 20% of Georgia officers have the specialized CIT training. [xxxiii]

● The prevalence of mental illness in U.S. jails is 14.5% for males and 31% for females; overall, mental illnesses are present in about 20% of the prison population. [xxxiv]