27 September 2024, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman – “I don’t work for the EPPD as a direct city employee,” wrote a mental health professional. “I have worked with them in the past on mental health issues officers might encounter when on calls.”

That’s how the email began, letting us know who Sandra worked, and didn’t work for.

“I want to send you the Crisis Intervention Team Refresher lesson plan from 2017,” wrote Sandra. “One that was revised by Paul Pacillas.”

Sandra has written that the training officers receive in Texas, on how to deal with individuals in crisis, is lacking.

In Texas Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) police officers are given only forty (40) hours of training.

• What does that training generally consist of?
• Mental illness understanding: Learn about mental illness and psychopharmacology
• Communication skills: Develop communication skills and role-playing
• Practical experience: Gain practical experience and visit local mental health facilities
• De-escalation skills: Learn crisis de-escalation skills

“I read the piece on the SWAT team with interest,” wrote Sandra. “The SWAT piece addresses a larger issue in the department: officers do not know what they are doing, the ones on CIT.”

SWAT – Southwest News Today

The El Paso Police Department, in El Paso, Texas, continues to drop the ball when it comes to mental health, and community interaction.

On 11 April 2024, around 6:53 p.m., a call came into the El Paso Police Department. The call was for shots fired. Before the suspect was killed in this case, PIO Gomez said that negotiation teams are trying to contact the suspect to end the situation peacefully.

What Gomez and the El Paso Police Department did not mention is that the family of the suspect in this case requested police service. The family member who called the EPPD told both the call taker, and officers that she feared him and didn’t want him in her home.

The Crisis Intervention Team officers were told of his past mental health issues, drug use, and prior violent outbursts. These officers, who only have forty hours of training decided the case did not meet any of the requirements to either remove the suspect or hospitalize him.

Within in twenty-four hours, the same individual began firing rounds into the street outside the apartment.

“CIT, these officers, I know some of them may want to do a good job, a through job,” wrote Sandra, “but they lack the training, ethics, or transparency to act as pre-screeners for mental health issues.”

A simple reading of the Crisis Intervention Team Refresher lesson plan from 2017 shows training is woefully inadequate.

Let’s look at what other departments consider proper training:

New York – though training in New York is only forty hours, it is more comprehensive

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for police officers in New York includes: 

• Communication skills: Officers learn how to communicate with people in crisis through active listening, empathy, and rapport. 
• De-escalation: Officers learn how to safely de-escalate crisis situations. 
• Mental illness: Officers learn about mental illness and how to recognize the signs of substance misuse. 
• Role-playing: Officers participate in role-playing exercises. 
• Site visits: Officers visit mental health professionals, consumers, and family members

Los Angeles – again, forty-hour training with the following key points

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training for police officers in Los Angeles is a 32–40-hour course that teaches them how to respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis. The training covers a range of topics, including: 

• Mental illness: Understanding mental illness and its indicators 
• Communication skills: Developing communication skills to work with people experiencing a mental health crisis 
• Legal aspects: Understanding the legal aspects of mental health commitments and liability issues 
• Documentation: Learning how to properly document interactions with people experiencing a mental health crisis 
• Interpersonal relations: Learning how to build interpersonal relationships with people experiencing a mental health crisis and their families 
• Intervention strategies: Learning how to intervene in both low and high-risk situations 

CIT training also includes practical experience and role-playing, and often involves meeting with mental health professionals, consumers, and family members. 

The goal of CIT training is to improve the safety of both officers and people experiencing a mental health crisis, and to reduce injuries to both parties. CIT programs are community initiatives that are based on strong relationships between law enforcement and mental health care providers.

Houston – again, forty-hours

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officers in Houston, Texas receive training from the Houston Police Department’s Mental Health Division. The training includes classroom and scenario-based learning, Didactic training, and TCOLE required certification courses. 

The training is taught by TCOLE certified instructors and Mental Health Officers who have experience in de-escalation and dealing with mental health related crises. 

CIT training is designed to help law enforcement officers respond to people experiencing a mental health crisis. The training includes:

• Understanding mental illness
• Developing communication skills
• Practical experience
• Role-playing
• Learning about mental health professionals, consumers, and family members
• Learning about the legal aspects of mental health commitments
• Learning about liability issues
• Learning about documentation
• Learning about interpersonal relations
• Learning about intervention strategies 

The goal of CIT training is to improve the safety of officers and mental health consumers, reduce injuries, and redirect mental health consumers to services and support.

“I am also forwarding you the EPPD Equal Employment Opportunity Utilization Report,” wrote Sandra. “I believe the department focuses more on who you are over what you know.”

Training is, as mentioned, woefully inadequate when it comes to mental health. CIT officers are adrift when it comes to mental health and its related conditions. Until such time as officers are either better educated, or the department begins to require degrees in Mental Health for Crisis Intervention Team officers, we need to have civilian mental health professionals accompany CIT on each call.  

Another problem with CIT, they do not have enough manpower to work 24/7, but that will be featured in a future article.