Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
As persons with mental illnesses and law enforcement become increasingly intertwined, the collaboration of police and mental health service providers has become critical to appropriately serving the needs of individuals experiencing mental health crises. This article introduces the crisis intervention team (CIT) model as a collaborative approach to safely and effectively address the needs of persons with mental illnesses, link them to appropriate services, and divert them from the criminal justice system if appropriate. The article will discuss the key elements of the CIT model, implementation and its related challenges, and variations of the model. Although this model has not undergone sufficient research to be deemed an evidence-based practice, it has been successfully utilized in many law enforcement agencies worldwide and is considered a best practice model in law enforcement. This primer for mental health practitioners serves as an introduction to a model that may already be available in their communities or it may serve as a springboard for the development of CIT programs where they do not currently exist.
Watson et al. (Sat,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: