An Investigation of the New York Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Initiative

• In Event: Policing Responses to Mental Health Crises

Abstract

The Office of the Inspector General for the New York City Police Department (OIG-NYPD) conducted an investigation into the NYPD’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) initiative which provides officers with tactics to de-escalate situations involving people in mental crisis. OIG-NYPD staff attended four CIT trainings and analyzed dozens of NYPD policy and instruction documents about persons in mental crisis. OIG-NYPD also conducted a focus group with CIT-trained officers from NYPD precincts, bureaus, and units where there are frequent mental health calls for service. The investigation included interviews with officials from the NYPD and other city agencies, service providers, and advocacy groups, as well as reviews of CIT programs in other jurisdictions and U.S. Department of Justice consent decrees involving CIT training.

The investigation found that while the NYPD had developed an effective CIT training, there were major shortcomings in its approach to CIT, including the failure to dispatch CIT-trained officers to mental health calls, the lack of a dedicated staff to coordinate CIT efforts, and an incongruence between existing NYPD written policy and the practices and principles taught in NYPD’s CIT training. OIG-NYPD developed numerous recommendations to address the limitations identified by this investigation, which will be covered in this presentation.

Authors

• Rebecca Engel, Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD

• Joseph Lipari, Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD