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East Mississippi Crisis Intervention Team a valuable resource for law enforcement

Meridian Star - 6/25/2021

Jun. 25—About nine years after the East Mississippi Crisis Intervention Team started training local law enforcement, the program continues to be a valuable tool for officers.

"It is probably, in my opinion, one of the top two things we've done in this department in the last 20 years," said Chief Deputy Ward Calhoun of the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department.

The program teaches law enforcement personnel how to de-escalate a mental health crisis, and it can prevent people living with a mental illness from being incarcerated, the program's leaders say.

The skills learned in the program can also be used in many situations, not just during mental health crises.

History of the East Mississippi Crisis Intervention Team

In 2009, Weems Community Mental Health Center, Alliance Health Center and other mental health organizations and advocates shared their concerns with the sheriff's department and Meridian Police Department, Calhoun said.

They were concerned that some people with mental illness were being held in jails, when they instead needed treatment.

These organizations and local law enforcement then started to consider how to address this issue.

Calhoun said Lauderdale County received a federal grant to look into several different solutions. They ultimately decided to form a Crisis Intervention Team program that would, in some cases, take individuals to the Crisis Stabilization Unit in Newton.

The Crisis Stabilization Unit is a 16-bed, time-limited residential treatment facility for adults experiencing a psychiatric crisis, said Amy Bishop, the director of Adult Services at Weems.

Lauderdale County received another federal grant, which helped it form the CIT program. The program has also received funding from the State of Mississippi for the last five or six years, Calhoun said.

The East Mississippi Crisis Intervention Team started training deputies and police officers in 2012. And on May 1, 2012, law enforcement personnel started taking people to the Crisis Stabilization Unit in Newton.

An individual has to be a danger to themselves or others for an officer to take them to the unit, Calhoun said.

CIT-trained deputies and police officers are able to respond to 911 calls that involve mental health crises. Only about 10% of CIT calls result in an individual being taken to the Crisis Stabilization Unit, Calhoun said. Officers respond to 60-65% of CIT calls by spending time talking to the individual.

Sometimes, an individual will start to feel better once they've taken their medication and had a glass of water, Calhoun said.

In another 25-30% of calls, the officer arranges for the individual experiencing a mental health crisis to meet with a therapist. They will either see their own therapist or see one through Weems' Mobile Crisis Response Team, which allows people to meet with a therapist at any time of the day or night.

CIT training courses

Captain Wade Johnson, East Mississippi Crisis Intervention Team training coordinator, said that deputies and police officers hoping to be CIT officers undergo 40 hours of training. They learn about mental health topics such as how to recognize behaviors that are associated with certain mental health diagnoses.

They also learn about common types of medication used in the mental health field and visit mental health facilities.

The "meat and potatoes" of the CIT program, Johnson said, is verbal de-escalation training.

During the training, which takes places over four sessions, law enforcement personnel role play different scenarios.

"We use real-life scenarios, because we know how in the end they were resolved," Johnson said. "So we actually know what happens in the beginning to the end."

Benefits of CIT

Calhoun said the CIT program has prevented some people from being incarcerated in the Lauderdale County Detention Facility who "don't need to be there."

Through the program, the sheriff's department is able to "help them get to the right place to get the right help," Calhoun said.

Johnson said when people living with mental illness go to jail, it's usually because of a low-level offense, like disturbing the peace. He said the CIT program allows law enforcement to take these individuals somewhere other than jail, where they can receive treatment for their condition.

"When they're in jail, sometimes they don't get that proper treatment that they really need," he said.

Heather Luebbers, a sergeant for Meridian Police Department, said that verbal de-escalation skills can also, in some cases, prevent use of force, like use of a taser.

The de-escalation techniques taught in CIT training can also can be used in situations other than mental health crises.

"The skills that you learn in CIT are applicable to whatever you're dealing with," Calhoun said.

Bishop said that local law enforcement and Weems had worked together before the East Mississippi Crisis Intervention Team was created, but the CIT program has made the collaboration more cohesive.

She added that safety is sometimes a concern when a person is experiencing a mental health crisis, and law enforcement personnel can help keep everyone safe.

"We need the partnership with law enforcement to make sure that the individual that's in crisis is safe and our staff is safe, the community's safe, and that we can get individuals into the services that they need," she said.

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