CIT training

12/29/2015

Honorable Mayor Rahm Emanuel

I am sending this letter to request a meeting with you to discuss CIT training.

 

 

I am chairman of the NAMI Criminal Justice Advocacy for the Mentally Ill.  NAMI(National Alliance on Mental Illness)  is the nation’s voice on mental illness.  Part of our mission is to see that there is the establishment of well-supported and well-staffed Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) in all communities.   We also advocate for effective treatment for people with mental illness caught up in the criminal justice system.  Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) are a pre-booking jail diversion program designed to improve the outcomes of police interactions with people with mental illnesses.   There is a 40 hour training program for law enforcement officers that includes basis information about mental illnesses and how to recognize them; information about the local mental health system and local laws; learning first-hand from consumers and family member’s about their experiences; verbal de-escalation training and role-plays.  Since 1988, NAMI and our national network of local and state organizations have partnered with law enforcement agencies on Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) programs, which help law enforcement cope with these difficult calls for service and increase safety in these situations—for officers, individuals in crisis and bystanders.   A good percentage of interactions by police officers are with the mentally ill.  1 in 4 people killed in officer-involved shootings has a serious mental illness. Most of the mentally ill are non-violent. Most people are not aware that mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally.  An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans 18 and older-almost one in four-suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.  Only 15% of the police officers in Chicago have CIT training.  Many of the unfortunate recent incidents in Chicago and in the nation could be avoided if the police have this valuable training.   I hope and pray the Chicago police department and the City of Chicago see recent events as a wake-up call and start aggressively having more training in the immediate future.  Otherwise there will continue to be the senseless loss of life and lawsuits that are never ending.  Crisis Intervention Training saves lives. 

 

I look forward to meeting you. 

 

 /s/Joseph M. Jason

 

 

Joseph M. Jason

Chairman-Criminal Justice Advocacy for the Mentally Ill

NAMI BA-Past President