Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) – have you heard of this cost effective approach to avoid arrests for people living with mental illnesses? The Coalition reports that it all started in Memphis Tennessee following a fatal shooting involving a young man with mental illness. Sadly, this scenario is all too familiar to all of us, no matter where we live. What is special is what happened- the community came together and formed a partnership, because no one wanted a repeat of the death of a young man who was displaying symptoms of illness. This is a model program designed to improve the outcomes of interactions of police with people with mental illnesses – ultimately to prevent unnecessary arrests. And CIT is more than just training for police officers, it is really a whole community collaboration effort, including mental health professionals and family and consumer advocates who help make sure the right treatment mix is available.

North Carolina embraced this model in 2005 when Wake County became the first county to adopt CIT in their local Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) – with the Raleigh Police Department as their initial partner. Today Wake County provides CIT training in all l7 LEAs in their county – an outstanding success in just over five years!

Why should North Carolina to continue to build CIT in every community throughout the state? CIT frees up public resources. By diverting people with mental illness from jails, CIT helps ensure that jails are available for those who commit crimes, not for those who require treatment. It also saves resources by preventing people from deteriorating to the point they are incarcerated or require costly emergency room services. Nationally, state spending on correctional systems has increased 350% in the past 20 years; what is needed instead is investment in treatment and recovery services. In US prisons alone, approximately 24% of the inmates live with serious mental illness, compared to the general population living with serious mental illness being about 6% of the population. 70% of youth in the juvenile justice system have mental health disorders. 50% of previously incarcerated people are rearrested, often due to mental illness factors and lack of treatment.

People with mental illness are arrested more often than those without, they are kept in jail and prison longer, and they are rearrested. CIT, by stopping this cycle, is the first step in communities moving towards providing the supports and treatments people need, that also save resources in these trying times.

How far has North Carolina come since 2005? Through 2010, we had trained 3032 officers, and have reached 238 Law Enforcement Agencies, 381 dispatchers! Truly astounding progress, for a program that costs very little. And we have reached beyond traditional law enforcement and are beginning to reach school resource officers, airport security, campus security, jail and prison staff, and court and probation staff. Recently the National Alliance on Mental Illness NC sponsored a statewide CIT conference with nearly 400 people in attendance. From this, we expect further growth in CIT. What can you do? Encourage your local community to embrace CIT – ask your local police/sheriffs department if they have adopted the Crisis Intervention Team approach.

For more information on the Crisis Intervention Team approach, contact Deby Dihoff,

Executive Director, NAMI NC at 919 788 0801 or ddihoff@naminc.org.