What Is Crisis Intervention Team?
The York County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) is a community partnership between the York County criminal justice system, working with mental health professionals, consumers, and family members to create a team of trained law enforcement professionals who will be readily available to intercept those individuals with mental health issues who are encountered by police at street level and are in crisis. The aim of the program is to divert people with mental illness in crisis to more appropriate resources. The purpose is to provide a more humane and calm approach for dealing with those with mental health issues and to integrate the police with the community to pursue the common goals of safety, understanding, and service to people with behavioral health issues and their families.
Benefits of Crisis Intervention Team
- Decreases officer injury rates
- Decreases number of arrests of individuals with mental illness
- Connects individuals in mental health crisis to appropriate mental health services
- Decreases use of force occurrences
- Decreases consumer injury rates
Resources
Access multiple resources in our resource directory.
What to do if you're in a crisis or know someone who is having a Mental Health crisis:
- Call 911.
- Provide the dispatcher with any information pertaining to mental health diagnosis, medications and/or treatment of the consumer.
- Ask for a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Officer to be dispatched.
- Stay on the phone with dispatcher and update with any changes until Police Officer responds.