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| Memphis police major Sam Cochran |
The banquet, supported by the Ambrosiani-Pastore Foundation through a grant to NAMI Far North, is an important element of the implementation of CIT throughout Idaho.
NAMI Far North, the Bonner and Boundary Counties affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, was organized for the purpose of improving the lives of individuals living with mental illness through education, support and advocacy.
CIT is an evidence-based pre-booking jail diversion program designed to improve the outcomes of police interactions with people with mental illness, reducing incidents of violence and diverting individuals from punitive incarceration to appropriate community-based medical treatment. CIT began in Memphis Tennessee in 1988 after police shot and killed an unarmed man with mental illness.
The Memphis-model CIT program, which has now been implemented in more than 35 states, is successful because it is a true community partnership of law enforcement, mental health providers, and family and consumer advocates. It includes 40 hours of training for law enforcement officers on mental illness and techniques of verbal de-escalation during a mental health crisis.
Law enforcement, by default, is the first responder to mental illness crises. In the year following the establishment of CIT in Memphis, there was an 80% decrease in law enforcement injuries on mental disturbance calls. Individuals with mental illness diverted in CIT programs have been found to receive more treatment for their illnesses than those not diverted. CIT can also save communities money, since the alternative of incarceration and involuntary hospitalization are the most expensive ways to handle mental illness crises.
Major Cochran will share his experiences in implementing CIT in Memphis and elsewhere in the US and internationally. He will emphasize the importance of the community collaboration aspects of CIT, with teamwork among law enforcement, local mental health care providers and the family members of people living with mental illness providing the network of care and safety that may not only save money but improve officer safety and possibly prevent the kind of tragedy that gave rise to the original CIT program.
Idaho began to implement Memphis-model CIT with its first CIT Academy in February 2009, followed by CIT academies in five of the seven Department of Health and Welfare regions of Idaho.
NAMI Idaho, the state organization of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, was a leader in the collaborative efforts that established the Idaho CIT Work Group, including law enforcement officers, DHW Behavioral Health staff, NAMI representatives from CIT-implementing Regions, and a representative from Idaho Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST). The Work Group has standardized the Idaho POST-certified 40 hour Memphis-model curriculum regionally across the state. In consistent feedback, the Crisis De-Escalation Training (CDT) segment of the standardized training has been deemed among the most valuable parts of the overall training.
DHW Region I CIT provides training for law enforcement officers and other first responders in the state’s northern five counties. The Bonner County Sheriff’s Office serves as the host law enforcement agency. Since the first CIT Academy was held in February 2009, 55 law enforcement officers and five EMTs in Region 1 have been trained in CIT. Region I CIT Academy #4 is scheduled for March 5-9, 2012.
Major Cochran and four of his associates will be in Sandpoint February 8 and 9, conducting a Train the Trainer for law enforcement and mental health volunteers who teach in CIT programs across Idaho.
This training and one held in Boise in October are funded by a NAMI Idaho Byrne/JAG grant, a federal law enforcement grant administered by the Idaho State Police. The cornerstone of CIT programs is teaching officers how to verbally de-escalate a crisis rather than resorting to force. The goal is to provide law enforcement and mental health trainers with an in-depth understanding of scenario-based de-escalation training.