Fighting stigma in
law enforcement:
The message has to come from the heart
By
Major Sam Cochran
The Memphis Police
Department pioneered the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) in 1988
after the police shooting, a year earlier, of a 27-year-old man who
had mental illness. The people in Memphis — including the Police
Department, the city administration, family members of people who
had mental illnesses, and those individuals themselves — were
determined to change law enforcement crisis services and to do so
within a context of safety, understanding and dignity. Fifteen years
later, the CIT model has proven so successful that similar programs
have been established in approximately 50 to 80 diverse communities,
cities and counties around the country.
What makes the CIT so
successful? As I have said often, it’s more than just training!
Although the 40-hour training is substantial, what really makes the
CIT effective is its foundation of sensitivity and understanding
interwoven within the framework of community partnerships. This
gives birth to community ownership – which is the CIT heartbeat.
Although many law
enforcement agencies are making positive strides toward meeting the
demands and complexities of crisis events, these efforts are more
often than not formatted within the context of training hours only.
However, the expectation that training by itself will resolve the
issues of stigma is not realistic. Mere training is not enough to
compensate when there is no infrastructure of services and care. To
combat the devastating effects and trauma brought about by the
stigma of mental illness requires a profound community outcry,
joined with linkages to appropriate community service
infrastructures. CIT is a profound course of action. It is a hope, a
voice, a necessary plan to correct the harmful and life-taking
tragedies of stigma’s past and present.
The Memphis CIT
consists of nearly 240 officers assigned to the Uniform Patrol
Division, which comprises more than 900 officers, linked to the 911
Dispatch System, choreographed for an immediate crisis response. CIT
officers, who volunteer for the program, must submit to a thorough
selection process. Crisis calls with a mental illness component
require special talents and attributes that are not found in all
officers; CIT members share attributes of good judgment, maturity
and leadership. (Some law enforcement officers can’t get along with
citizens while writing a traffic ticket, much less with someone in a
serious psychiatric crisis!)
The Memphis team
maintains citywide coverage 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When
CIT officers — who wear an identifying pin — arrive on the scene,
they are in charge. This does not negate the supervisor chain of
command; it enhances clarity and responsibility and provides order
during a crisis assessment in defining an appropriate
response/disposition.
The results speak for
themselves. After the Memphis CIT hit the streets, the number of
people we were putting in jail decreased, and the officer injury
rate also reflected a significant reduction in regard to crisis
calls. Another positive change is that CIT officers became advocates
for consumers and set an example for future qualified officers to
follow. Consumers also saw a positive change in the police and have
since been more willing to call the police themselves regarding
their personal crisis or as a citizen calling for other law
enforcement services.
One of the most
important and rewarding parts of the CIT training is the eight hours
of officer and consumer interaction. Officers and consumers meet
each other openly and build new relationships of understanding. This
has been a very positive component and serves to offset some of the
stigmas often associated with people who have mental illnesses.
No matter which way you
look at the problems in the criminal justice system in regard to
people who have mental illnesses, the bottom line is about stigma.
Stigma comes in many different disguises — but all are treacherous.
A lot of times, it’s even the good intentions that stigmatize
individuals who happen to have a mental illness. That’s a tragedy
within itself.
Many people are trying
to address crisis services, and they say, “We’re going to provide
extra training.” That’s great; it needs to be in place. But one of
the most important things I need to say — not only to law
enforcement officers but also to communities – is that people with
mental illnesses have special needs and are deserving of special
care and services. This is an uncompromising position and should be
recognized accordingly. The CIT program, by having a special crisis
response, underscores this message. No matter how good or well
intentioned, generic training does not deliver that message – at
least, not with the necessary passion.
I wish we could say
that CIT ends stigma, but it’s only one avenue. We need many
different avenues to combat stigma — because it’s generated and
inappropriately nurtured in so many different ways.
One thing is clear: The
message in regard to CIT and stigma has to come from the heart, and
it has to be a changed heart. You can’t just say, “We need to
educate our officers about mental illness.” We’ve been doing that
for years. But mere education about mental illness is not enough to
combat the hurtful and tragic effects of stigma. So you have to have
a change of heart. You have to have a change of mind. And these
changes must be profound.
Until that happens, you
can have the best training program in the world, but if you don’t
have the necessary support – partnerships, community service
infrastructures – I’m afraid you’re not going to be able to meet the
full potential of CIT: changing of hearts.
I suspect that if you
were driving down the street and saw a man carrying a white cane
with a red tip who was having difficulty crossing, you would witness
a traffic jam with people stopping and exiting their vehicles to
help this individual walk across the street. Yet every day we pass
by individuals in severe crisis because of mental illnesses, and we
never see them. We don’t see them with our eyes, and we don’t see
them with our hearts. Sadly, stigma blinds more than our eyesight.
The family members and
the consumers: they’re the people who inspire us. They’re the people
we need to address our attention and service to. With passion, we
ask, “Who are ‘the mentally ill’?” They’re our fathers, our mothers,
our sons and daughters, our cousins, aunts and uncles. They’re us.
Major Sam Cochran,
a 29-year veteran of the Memphis, Tenn., Police Department (MPD), is
the coordinator of the MPD Crisis Intervention Team, a specialized
group of officers within the MPD’s Uniform Patrol Division. “CIT –
It’s more than just training.”
This article
originally appeared on the ADS Web site.
Important note:
The contents of this memorandum do not necessarily represent the
views, policies and positions of the Center for Mental Health
Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,
or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
ADS Center
1211 Chestnut Street, 11th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107-4103
Web Page: info@adscenter.org
Voice: 1-800-540-0320 (English/Spanish)
By
email:
info@adscenter.org • 1-800-540-0320
Article Web Site:
http://www.adscenter.org/memoranda/indexwinter2004.htm
