NYAPRS Note: Yesterday, a committed coalition of NYS mental health consumer, family, provider, religious groups and legislative leaders joined at a Capital news conference to express their strong support for statewide implementations of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT).
The groups are seeking a $2 million allocation to establish a Center of Excellence for Crisis Intervention Teams in NYS and to provide over $1.5 million in startup grants to localities who are interested in getting the training, technical assistance and resources to set up CIT teams. Legislative mental health committee chairs Senate David Carlucci and Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther offered their commitment to work to find such funding, while Senator Kevin Parker continued to press for NYC and statewide adoption of CIT programs.
Stay tuned for how you can help our campaign!
N E W S R E L E A S E
Mental Health Advocates, Legislative Leaders Back Crisis Intervention Teams
to Improve Police, Mental Health System Response to Distressed Individuals
Albany, NY March 18, 2014
Contact: Harvey Rosenthal 518-527-0564
Mental health consumer, family, provider, religious groups and legislative leaders joined in Albany today to express their support for statewide implementations of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT).
“We are here to express their fervent hope that funding will be found to launch this national acclaimed and adopted innovative program” said Carla Rabinowitz of the 60 member Communities for Crisis Intervention Teams in NYC.
The Crisis Intervention Team model typically provides 40 hours of comprehensive mental health training to local police officers and pairs them with local mental health professionals and programs to help de-escalate potentially threatening situations and to avoid the use of excessive force and avoidable incarcerations.
While over 2,700 cities and localities have adopted CITs, only 3 localities in NYS have, leaving out most localities and New York City
“We come today to urge policy makers to adopt this nationally acclaimed, evidenced based program that has saved countless lives, avoided innumerable incarcerations and provided long overdue support to police first responders,” said Harvey Rosenthal, executive director of the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Service.
Senator David Carlucci, Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther, Senator Kevin Parker and Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry were on hand to express their support for the program.
The groups cited the numerous benefit of the CIT program.
- Less need for the use of lethal force and reductions in violence to both police and people with mental illnesses.
- Reduction in Officer Injuries: Average reduction in officer injuries is 85%.
- Reduction in injuries to mental health consumers: Reported injuries to mentally ill individuals are reduced an average of 40 %.
- Other benefits include: the reduction in time officers spend “off patrol”, a reduction in ER recidivism rates, a decrease of involuntary hospital admissions, an often dramatic reduction in the census of persons with mental illness in jail custody, and an overall reduction in the arrest rate.
The CIT initiative also has strong support from a broad array of statewide and regional mental health advocacy groups including Mental Health Association of NYS, the NYS Catholic Conference, the National Alliance on Mental Illness-NYC, Families Together, the Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies, NASW-NYS, Communities for Crisis Intervention Teams in NYC, New York Association in Independent Living, Mental Health Empowerment Project and the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services.
The advocates are seeking a $2 million allocation to provide start up grants to help localities to implement CIT programs that are designed to meet local needs.
CITs are especially an important tool to divert hundreds of thousands of Americans with mental illness from the criminal justice system. According to the Bureau of Justice, Incarceration rates have risen from 283,800 in 1998 to 705,600 in 2006 (78,800 in federal prisons and 479,900 in local jails). A 2010 examination of NYS prisons showed a 42% increase over the past decade and, as of mid-October, a 70 percent increase over all of 2009. Moreover, people with mental illnesses comprise 2-4 times more probationers and parolees than the general population, according to the National Institute of Corrections.
Family members of people with mental illnesses have long called for adoption of this initiative and spoke passionately on its behalf.
“By providing police officers with the tools they need to deescalate crisis situations, CIT improves outcomes for individuals in emotional distress — as well as for their families, our communities and the police — by reducing officer injuries and deaths,” said, Wendy Brennan executive director of NAMI-NYC Metro.
“My 22 year old son who has Asperger’s syndrome has narrowly escaped tragic misunderstandings with authorities due to his disability. Training for authorities will help allay concerns and misunderstandings and ensure his safety as well as others, “said Paige Pierce, Executive Director of Families Together in New York State.
Groups representing New Yorkers with mental health conditions also enthusiastically backed bringing this initiative to interested localities across the state.
“Crisis Intervention Teams have a big impact on this by providing law enforcement officers with the tools to interact with us more effectively,” said Amy Colesante, Executive Director of the Mental Health Empowerment Project.
The demands on the New York Police Department to act as first responders to City residents with mental illnesses are 5 times higher since 1980, jumping from 20, 843 calls to 100,000 currently. Additionally, the instances where the NYPD has taken people to area hospitals for psychiatric evaluations jumped from 1,000 in 1976 to 24,000 in 1998.
“People living with mental illness (and their families, friends and caregivers) deserve a trained and understanding law enforcement and criminal justice system if they are to be treated fairly and helped to successfully navigate difficult confrontations,” said Phillip A. Saperia, Chief Executive Officer of the New York City-based Coalition of Behavioral Health Agencies that are positioned to help provide treatment alternatives to police involvements.
Religious leaders also embrace the CIT approach. “I know the difference it can make first hand since a recipient of our ACT Team in Binghamton was shot and killed through a misunderstanding involving cultural and language barriers, said Lori A. Accardi, LMSW, representing the NYS Catholic Conference. “From that moment, the mental health community joined with local law enforcement and our District Attorney’s office to create a local Crisis Intervention Team.
“Incorporation of these specially trained first-responders will help ensure that individuals with psychiatric or other disabilities are treated fairly and with respect, results in less unnecessary injuries and arrests, and helps to ensure people receive the services and supports they need” said Lindsay Miller of the Executive Director, New York Association on Independent Living
Professional groups provided strong support for statewide adoption of the CIT program.
Implementation of a specialized policing response in every community across New York State offers our law enforcement officers critical tools to safely handle distressed individuals; preventing unnecessary and more costly incarcerations, ” said Ray Cardona, LCSW, Executive Director, NASW-NYS Chapter.
“The New York State Psychiatric Association supports the allocation of $2M in start-up grants to localities for the implementation of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs working in collaboration with local law enforcement agencies,” said Richard Gallo, Government Relations Advocate for the NYS Psychiatric Association.
Using the CIT approach, Philadelphia police officers have been able to capably respond to 90% of those calls and San Francisco has reduced potentially tragic uses of force to 22 out of 16,000 calls.
“CIT training is an evidenced based practice that provides both a safe and compassionate strategy for law enforcement in engaging individuals with psychiatric disabilities in crisis,” said Glenn Liebman, CEO of the Mental Health Association of NYS. “Research has shown that people with mental illness are no more violent than the general populations and trainings like CIT continue to break down that wall of stigma.”
—————-
FACT SHEET
High Numbers of Police Contacts
In 1998, approximately 7% of all police contacts in U.S. police departments serving more than 100,000 involved a person believed to have a mental illness.
Low Level, Nuisance Behaviors
The majority of law enforcement encounters with people with mental illnesses are with individuals suspected of committing low-level, misdemeanor crimes, or who are exhibiting nuisance behavior.
Incarceration Rates Rising Bureau of Justice
Incarceration rates have risen from 283,800 in 1998 to 705,600 in 2006 (78,800 in federal prisons and 479,900 in local jails).
Rising Suicide Rates Among People with Mental Illnesses in NYS correctional facilities
A 2010 examination showed a 42% increase over the past decade and, as of mid-October, a 70 percent increase over all of 2009. Poughkeepsie Journal
High Probation and Parole Rate
People with mental illnesses 2-4 times more than the general population National Institute of Corrections
Cycle Continues
Prison and jail inmates with physical health, mental health, and substance use problems experience more reintegration difficulties upon release, and typically have poorer outcomes with respect to employment, re-offending, and re-incarceration
———–
Police Encounters Leading to Tragedy
Avoidable Deaths
According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, people with psychiatric disabilities are four times as likely to die in encounters with the police as members of the general population. Center for Public Representation
Quick Response: Another striking pattern is that deaths and injuries, especially shootings, often occur very quickly after police first appear on the scene
Accounts showed fatalities occurred quickly 30 seconds to 3 minutes
Center for Public Representation
Police Excessive Force, Restraint
Another common way that people die or are injured at the hands of the police is by asphyxiation when they are being held down, sometimes in “hog-tying” positions known to be very dangerous
Center for Public Representation
Parent’s Heartbreak
“A mother or father in a family crisis had no expectation when they dialed 911 that their overwrought or suicidal child would be killed by the very agency they called for help.”
————–
Burden on Police
The Los Angeles (Calif.) Police Department reported spending more than 28,000 hours a month on calls involving people with mental illnesses.27
Nationally, in 1998, law enforcement officers were more likely to be killed by a person with a mental illness (13 percent)
—————
New York City
40% at Riker’s Island; 50% of Those in Solitary Confinement
40% of Riker’s 12,200 have some form of mental health diagnosis, 1/3 of them are diagnosed with serious mental illnesses
50% of inmates in solitary confinement at any given time have a mental illness
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/06/rikers-island-jail-mentally-ill-solitary-confinement
13% Increased Incarcerations in General
The City’s percentage of prisoners with mental illnesses rose from 24 to 37% by 2005: Dora Schriro, commissioner of corrections for the city.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323455104579012664245550546
24 times increase in NYPD trips to the hospital for psychiatric evaluations
From 1,000 in 1976 to 24,000+ in 1998
5 Times increase in NYPD Responses to EDPs Since 1980
20,843 in 1980, to 46,845 in 19885, to 64,424 in 1998 100,000 now
1/3 of Persons Killed by NYPD in 1999 were deemed to have a mental illness
Treatment Advocacy Center
Crisis Intervention Teams
Crisis Intervention is a front-line response to mental illness that can be used by all classifications of police employees. The training provides tools, strategies and techniques that will allow these employees to work together to implement comprehensive services for inmates with mental illness.
The Crisis Intervention Team concept has been used by the Memphis (Tennessee) Police Department since 1988, and has proven to decrease arrests and the use of force incidents, as well as reduce the use of restraints in emergency rooms.
According to the Memphis Police Department and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, crisis intervention offers an immediate, calming approach that reduces the likelihood of physical confrontations and allows for better patient care. It also provides them with a better understanding of mental illness and ways to deescalate situations that could become quickly volatile if not handled appropriately.
The training uses role playing, videos and lectures to educate employees about:
- the history of mental illness over the centuries;
- problems encountered with the mentally ill in prisons;
- an overview of medications used to treat mental illness and possible side effects;
- communication skills to prevent, intervene and deescalate situations;
- strategic plans for working with those with mental illness as well as their family members and advocates;
- a review of the DOC’s use of certified peer specialists; and
- an overview of community reentry issues faced by the mentally ill.
Police Education
The question was simple: What are some names we call people with mental illness? The cops in the classroom laughed nervously before answering: nut job, bananas, schizo, psycho, cuckoo, wacko, whackadoodle, Signal 20, crazy, loco, insane, batty, fruitcake. “And what are some names we use for people who have cancer?” the instructor asked. Silence.
The Memphis model involves 40 hours of training of selected, volunteer officers, who work with mental health professionals, family members and people with psychiatric disabilities, and learn strategies to reduce the chance of violence.
The training dispels myths and addresses stereotypes and stigma on the side of both law enforcement and behavioral health.
All parties are engaged — law enforcement, the managed care organization, behavioral health providers, those with disabilities, family members and community stakeholders at large.
CIT training teaches officers to recognize people with mental illness and to handle potentially volatile situations appropriately. De-escalation of a crisis is a key skill.
According to the Memphis Police Department and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, crisis intervention offers an immediate, calming approach that reduces the likelihood of physical confrontations and allows for better patient care. It also provides them with a better understanding of mental illness and ways to deescalate situations that could become quickly volatile if not handled appropriately.
The training uses role playing, videos and lectures to educate employees about:
- the history of mental illness over the centuries;
- problems encountered with the mentally ill in prisons;
- an overview of medications used to treat mental illness and possible side effects;
- communication skills to prevent, intervene and deescalate situations;
- strategic plans for working with those with mental illness as well as their family members and advocates;
- a review of the DOC’s use of certified peer specialists; and
- an overview of community reentry issues faced by the mentally ill.
One key strategy is to “slow things down.”
Police in Memphis have spent up to twenty hours talking with people with psychiatric disabilities.
Results in Memphis
- 1/10 arrest rate the national average
- 5 fold drop in deaths of police officers
- 50% drop in use of SWAT like teams
Center for Public Representation
The CIT programs now number more than 2,500 in more than 45 states and several foreign countries, including Sweden and Australia.
http://csgjusticecenter.org/law-enforcement/media-clips/crisis-intervention-teams-complete/
Utah: 97 percent of police contacts by police are served by crisis intervention teams. Treatment Advocacy Center