Our Beat goes inside the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for NOPD officers.
CIT is a nationally recognized ‘best practices’ approach in recognizing and managing behavior that may be attributable to a mental health disorder. Under this program, specially chosen officers received 40 hours of intense training from mental health experts focused on techniques and best practices for minimizing the use of force against individuals in crisis due to mental illness or a behavioral disorder. CIT officers are assigned to each police district and are trained to respond to and de-escalate mental health crises.
As part of the federal Consent Decree, the NOPD is committed to training at least 20 percent of the force in CIT by August 2016.