Laurel Highlands Region Police CIT

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Laurel Highlands Region Police CIT
www.laurelhighlandscit.com
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Where Is The Laurel Highlands Region?

• CIT Presently In Cambria and Somerset Counties -
  PA

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Cambria CountyThe Johnstown Flood of 1889
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Somerset County9/11/01 Flight 93 Memorial
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What Does CIT Stand For?

• CRISIS
• INTERVENTION
• TEAM

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What is CIT ?

• Innovative program of police-based crisis
  intervention involving community health care and
  advocacy partnerships
• Pre-jail diversion program that directs
  individuals with mental illness into treatment
  rather than the criminal justice system

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What Does CIT Do?

• CIT Officers are highly skilled and specially
  trained to intervene more effectively with
  individuals who have mental illness and/or
  substance abuse issues.

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WHY CIT?

• Police increasingly becoming first responders to
  individuals experiencing behavioral health
  crises.
• Traditional police responses with individuals in
  crisis often escalate potentially dangerous
  situations
• Knowledge of mental illness is essential to
  protect the welfare of both the individual as
  well as the police officer.
• Jails /prisons increasingly becoming de-facto
  mental institutions

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QUESTION

• What are the three largest public psychiatric
  institutions???

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• 1. Los Angeles County Jail
• 2. Cook County Jail Chicago
• 3. Rikers Island Jail New York
• In 1955 there were 560,000 state hospital beds
  and 200,000 jail cells in the US.
• In 2002 there were 50,000 state hospital beds and
  2,000,000 jail cells in the US.
• Miami-Dade County spends 18 a day on general
  inmates 125 a day on mentally ill inmates.
• Circuit County Court of the Eleventh Judicial
  Circuit of Florida (2004)

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The Laurel Highlands Region Police CIT is

• Based on the CIT program developed by the
  Memphis, Tennessee Police Department, that has
  gained national recognition as a model program.
  

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Under the Direction Of

• Major Sam Cochran, CIT Coordinator, Memphis
  Police Department
• Dr. Randolph Dupont, Department of Criminal
  Justice, University of Memphis

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Where is CIT?

• 400 CIT Teams across the United States, Canada,
  Australia and Israel.
• In both large cities and rural communities.

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Memphis CIT Model Promotes

• Development of community partnerships between
• 1. law enforcement
• 2. mental health professionals
• 3. family and consumer advocates
  
• Mutual Respect and Understanding

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40 - Hours of Training!

• Emphasis is on mental health knowledge, crisis
  resolution skills and access to community
  services.
• Key piece interaction with mental health
  consumers and family members

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Adjunct Training Important For

• 911 Centers - Dispatch
• EMTs
• Hospital security
• Jail/ Prison guards
• Magistrates
• Others throughout criminal justice system

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Benefits of CIT

• Significant reductions in police officer and
  mental health consumer injuries
• Decreased numbers of arrests and increased
  referrals to more appropriate treatment services
• Dramatic reductions in the need for intensive
  police interventions such as SERT/SWAT. CIT
  trained officers are able to arrive on scene and
  effectively de-escalate potentially dangerous
  situations.

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Benefits

• Police turn-around time greatly reduced
• Trusting relationships formed between police and
  mental health consumers
• CIT provides additional support to Mental Health
  Crisis Units

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CIT Officers Demonstrate Qualities of

• Compassion
• Patience
• Understanding often already familiar with
  mental illness in the family

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CIT Officers Are

• Voluntary
• Uniformed Police Officers
• Interviewed Selected
• NOT EVERY OFFICER IS A CIT OFFICER!

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Course Presenters Are

• All Volunteers
• Mental Health Professionals
• Legal experts
• Law Enforcement
• Mental Health Consumers
• Family Members of Individuals w/ mental illness
• Veterans (PTSD)

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Course PresentersAre Also

• Encouraged to experience a ride along with a
  CIT Officer
• - promotes respect and understanding
• Considered honorary team members - promotes
  the importance of community partnership and
  responsibility

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The Critical Piece of Training

• Crisis De-Escalation
• - basic strategies
• - verbal techniques
• - advanced verbal techniques

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Basic Strategies

• Officer learns how to
• - arrive on scene non-confrontationally
• - approach an individual in crisis
• - assess situation
• - promote one on one communication
• provide assurance that hes there to help.
• Officer Safety is 1

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Verbal Techniques

• Officer learns appropriate responses to diffuse
  various stages of an escalating crisis
• Develops skills and techniques to encourage trust
  and foster communication and compliance

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Advanced Verbal Techniques

• Officer learns how to handle more complex
  scenarios
• - multiple persons on scene
• - how to direct officers providing
  back-up ( sometimes interference)
• -keep individual in crisis focused on
  communicating with officer

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How Does The CrisisDe-Escalation Team Work?

• Law enforcement and mental health professionals
  simulate real-life scenarios for role-play
  instruction on crisis de-escalation.
• team provides critical feedback to
  officers-in-training presenting both the mental
  health and law enforcement perspectives on how
  each officer responded.

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The Laurel Highlands Region Police Crisis
Intervention Team 50
Trained Officers

• 20 Departments in Two Counties
• Cambria County
• Magisterial District Judge
• Cambria Co. DAs Office
• Cambria Co Sheriffs Dept.
• Cambria County 911
• Conemaugh Twp. Cambria Co Police
• Conemaugh Hospital Security
• Dale Boro Police Dept.

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Ferndale Boro Police Dept. Geistown Boro Police
Dept. Jackson Twp. Police Dept. Johnstown Police
Dept. Richland Twp. Police Dept. Stonycreek Twp.
Police Dept. University UPJ Campus Police Upper
Yoder Twp. Police Dept West Hills Police
Dept. Somerset County Conemaugh Twp. Police
Dept. Paint Boro Police Dept. Somerset Boro
Police Dept. Windber Boro Police Dept.
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The Laurel Highlands Region Police CIT

• Would like to Thank You
• for having us here today!!
• Visit Us at WWW.LAURELHIGHLANDSCIT.COM
• EMAIL CIT_at_LAURELHIGHLANDSCIT.COM
• Music by Phil Collins, Look through
  my eyes from the sound track of the movie
  Brother Bear