We, as a student group from the Springfield College of Social Work, want the Worcester Police Department to be aware that we are concerned about the increased numbers of incidents involving mental health crisis’ that families with mental illness have been experiencing; because of this we are calling for more officers to receive the 40 hour Crisis Intervention Training (CIT). We are calling for 3 or more police officers from the Worcester Police Department to be trained in CIT to help increase amount of effective responses to the mental health community and their families.

As mental health’s and criminal justice system’s budgets been slashed over the years, the role of police as gatekeepers to both mental health and criminal justice systems is becoming increasingly important.

Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training Model: Crisis Intervention Team Model (CIT) is 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. CIT has been successfully used in many law enforcements agencies worldwide and is considered a best practice model in law enforcement. The Worcester Police have adopted this CIT model (Created in Memphis, 1998); due to higher incidence of mental health crisis, more CIT trained officers are needed to respond effectively.