How Police Officers Are (or Arent) Trained in Mental Health The article was written after an unarmed

woman was recently shot after she drove her car into a White House barricade. This caused question as to whether or not police are trained in how to handle mental health issues. The incident demonstrated how uncomfortable police officers and law enforcement is during times of crisis when mental health issues are present. The average Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) is a 40 hour curriculum and is the most comprehensive currently being offered in the United States, unfortunately many states dont offer or require the training and other states only are required an 8 hour training of crisis intervention. Many of the states who offer CIT training only offer it in one or two counties, leaving the majority of that states law enforcement without training. Shennell Antroubus, United States Capitol Police Department (USCP) public information officer, Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers Behavioral Science Division partnered with USCP in 2009 to create a training video providing instructions of how officers should appropriately handle mental health issues. If this video is being regularly used to train law enforcement wasnt elaborated on in this article. Evidence would suggest that if it is, it isnt enough. The cost of training each officer is part of the problem. This coupled with the difficulties faced by various municipalities, where man power and financial restraints create a drought of mental health training. Law enforcement agencies do not have the authority to drop someone off at psychiatric outpatient facilities, and a deficiency of crisis assessment centers and a shortfall of service providers adds to this situation.

Often only a few officers are trained in crisis intervention. The issue then becomes, if the first responder isnt properly trained, how will the offer handle the situation. The suggestion is that the officer should step back and call for trained back-up. Evidence suggests that CIT trained officers are less likely to use force when responding to mental health calls and that injuries to officers has dropped 80 percent. This would suggest that smaller municipalities should ban together in a shared partnership to cover the cost of CIT training for officers A decrease in injuries, means a decrease in down time and a decrease in the added burden this down time has to the counties. At some point there has to be a balance between the safety of the public, the officers and those with mental health issues. Only through proper training can this be achieved.