Crisis intervention team officer dispatch, assessment, and disposition: Interactions with individuals with severe mental illness.
The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model is a specialized police response program for people in a mental illness crisis. We analyzed 2174 CIT officers' reports from one community, which were completed during a five year period. These officers' reports described interactions with people presumed to be in a mental illness crisis. We used hierarchical logistic and multinomial regression analyses to compare transport to treatment to either transport to jail or no transport by how the calls were dispatched. The results revealed that both dispatch codes and officers' on-scene assessments influenced transport decisions. Specifically, calls dispatched as suspected suicide were more likely to be transported to treatment than calls dispatched as mental disturbance. Furthermore, calls dispatched as calls for assistance, disturbance, suspicious person, assault, suspicion of a crime, and to meet a citizen were all less likely than mental disturbance calls to result in transportation to treatment. Officer assessments of the use of substances, being off medications, signs and symptoms of mental or physical illness, and violence to self or others were associated with the likelihood of being transported to treatment. These results build on previous work that demonstrated differences in transport decisions between CIT trained and non-CIT trained officers.
Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy, 4209 State Route 44, Rootstown, OH 44272, United States.
Christian
C
Ritter
Jennifer L S
JL
Teller
Kristen
K
Marcussen
Mark R
MR
Munetz
Brent
B
Teasdale
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003068:Coercion; D003419:Crisis Intervention / Q000458:organization & administration*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D016495:Police; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult