2021 Annual Report - Flipbook - Page 12
Crisis Intervention Team
The Hartford Police Department responds to numerous
calls for service that turn out to be a person in mental
health crisis rather than a criminal matter. To help people
in these situations, the Hartford Police Department has a
robust Crisis Intervention Team.
A Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) is a group of of昀椀cers that
receive special training from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) on how to interact with people experiencing mental health crisis and tools to get them help. CIT
programs create connections between law enforcement,
mental health providers, hospital emergency services and
individuals with mental illness and their families. CIT training is associated with improved of昀椀cer attitude and knowledge about mental illness.
HPD’s CIT of昀椀cers work collaboratively with clinicians from
Capitol Region Mobile Crisis and Wheeler Mobile Crisis to
produce the best outcomes for people in mental health
crisis. Currently, 83 Hartford Police of昀椀cers are CIT certi昀椀ed. Additionally, all graduates of the Hartford Police
Academy get an abbreviated form of this training.
Not only can CIT programs bring community leaders together, they can also help keep people with mental illness
out of jail and in treatment, on the road to recovery. That’s
because diversion programs like CIT reduce arrests of
people with mental illness while simultaneously increasing
the likelihood that individuals will receive mental health
services.
CIT programs also gives police of昀椀cers more tools to do
their job safely and effectively, keeps law enforcement’s
focus on crime and produces cost savings for the community by keeping people with mental illness out of the jail
system.
HARTFORD POLICE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT
PAGE 12