Established in 2004, CIT is a community partnership providing local law enforcement officers 40 hours of training to better respond to a mental health crisis in the community. The classes are organized and moderated by the Tallahassee Police Department, the Tallahassee chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) in conjunction with the Court's Mental Health Coordinator.
As a pre-booking diversion program, CIT's major focus is to prevent inappropriate arrests of the mentally ill by enabling responding officers to direct them to community-based treatment. Additionally, the skills learned in the program can aid in reducing or de-escalating adverse incidents between law enforcement and the mentally ill.
To date, over three hundred (300) law enforcement personnel have graduated from CIT classes. Second Judicial Circuit Law Enforcement Agencies that have participated in the CIT are:
If you are interested in having your agency participate in this program, please contact Kendra Brown at Brownken@leoncountyfl.gov.
Crisis Intervention Team Case Studies | Case Study #5