Crisis Intervention Teams in Chicago: Successes on the Ground

Police officers encounter a sizable number of calls involving individuals who have mental illness. In response to the challenges that officers face with mental health calls, police departments nationally are implementing specialized response programs. In this paper, we present findings from qualitative interviews with police regarding the implementation of a well-known specialized response model, Crisis Intervention Teams. Researchers employed a grounded dimensional analysis to examine how CIT is utilized in four Chicago police districts. Results indicate that police, irrespective of whether they received CIT training, perceive an array of benefits of CIT implementation in their district. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.