Old school is out: how crisis intervention team training is reshaping policing

Abstract Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training is a nationally recognized approach that was first developed in Memphis, Tennessee. Its goal is to build collaboration between law enforcement and mental health providers and foster de-escalation skills with special populations to ultimately alleviate police involvement in crisis situations, divert individuals from the justice system, and decrease use of force. Recent meta-analyses have reported generally positive findings regarding the impact of CIT training on participants. However, much of the prior research has relied on posttest data immediately following training, and has focused on urban settings with large police departments, largely ignoring suburban areas with smaller police forces. The present study examines CIT training field outcomes for one New Jersey County. Focus groups of training participants (n = 30) that took place 6–12 months after CIT training are used to assess use of the CIT model in the field by both law enforcement officers and mental health providers. Findings reveal that CIT training alters police practice relative to their initial response, time spent on calls, and individualizing their response tactics, and that officers and mental health providers view this as a break from the “old way” of policing. This study contributes to the limited data on post-training CIT outcomes using rich descriptive data from training participants.