ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI)– Due to critical shortages in community mental health services, police officers have become first responders to people with serious mental illnesses who are in a psychiatric crisis.
Luckily, most police departments in our area have specialized training through the crisis intervention team council to deal with such situations. The C-I-T program helps officers learn how to recognize the signs of psychiatric distress and keep shooting tragedies, linked to mental illness, like those in Aurora, Colorado or Sandy Hook Elementary school, from happening in our neighborhoods.
According to Sgt. Robert Kendall of the O’Fallon Police Department, “The goal is to not have shootings like you saw in Sandy Hook, to not have people who are obviously mentally ill, not being treated, not having any type of support. You don’t want those people to get lost in the shuffle and then pop up on the radar after they’ve committed a heinous act against others or themselves.”
The program consists of 40 hours of training including role play. It works in collaboration with healthcare providers, Veterans’ services and family and consumer advocates. It provides officers with the resources they need to get people help before it’s too late. 3.5 million Americans have severe mental illnesses and fewer than 50 percent receive adequate treatment. 66 percent of boys and nearly 74 percent of girls in the juvenile justice system meet the diagnostic criteria for at least one major mental illness. The goal of the C-I-T program is to get people help before it gets to the point where they are taken to jail.
National Alliance on Mental Illness provides free education and support for family members of people with a mental illness.
Behavioral Health Response offers free counselors and crisis intervention: 1-800-811-4760