- February 9, 2012
- 11:36 am
- Cara Young
- no comments
Social Workers in Law Enforcement
Crisis intervention training is an important area where social workers offer training in schools, law enforement, and to the public. CIT is a 40-hour education program which empowers officers and others to effectively respond to mental health crises. Encountering someone with a mental illness is a daily occurrence for most officers. Through officer education on the symptoms of mental illness and crisis de-escalation techniques, CIT in Chicago has been shown to decrease the use of force against citizens who may be agitated or resistant, has increased officer ability to direct people to mental health services, and leaves officers feeling better prepared to respond to mental health crises.
Chicago’s CIT program is an asset to the city, benefiting police officers, persons with mental illnesses, their families, and our community. Given the deep funding cuts that have been experienced by Chicago’s mental health service delivery system in 2011, Chicago police officers are being increasingly called upon to respond to mental health crisis situations. Social Workers help ensure that officers and the department are appropriately prepared to protect the safety and well-being of all Chicago citizens, while keeping themselves safe, too.
Our School of Social Work has an alum that is currently involved in the coordination of this program. For more information, contact the Chicago Police Department, www.thresholds.com, or read the ABC article below.
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/disability_issues&id=7218589
