Mississippi law enforcement receives mental health crisis training

• At the end of June, about 96% of required law enforcement departments in the Magnolia State had a trained officer on staff.

To decrease instances of people suffering from mental health crises being jailed, law enforcement officers across Mississippi have engaged in specialized training. The training, called the Crisis Intervention Team Program, gives officers the skills to de-escalate a situation involving mental health concerns before violence occurs. 

While the training has been offered in Mississippi for more than a decade, State Rep. Samuel Creekmore (R) authored HB 1222 in 2023 that mandates at least one officer in each qualifying department receives the specialized training. The measure was signed into law by Governor Tate Reeves (R).

Requirements of the law

While all departments are required to have at least one officer trained in CIT, there is an exemption for departments with less than five law enforcement personnel on staff. Smaller departments can enter into memorandums of understanding with larger, neighboring departments to gain access to a CIT officer’s knowledge in diffusing mental health situations. 

CIT programs, now offered nationwide, began in Memphis, Tennessee in response to an unfortunate officer-involved shooting that led to the death of 27-year-old Joseph Dewayne Robinson in 1988.

Under the law, the Mississippi Department of Mental Health has worked in conjunction with municipal and county law enforcement agencies across the state over the past two years to hold 46 classes that provided 40-hours of training to nearly 668 officers.

MDMH Executive Director Wendy Bailey said by the end of June about 96 percent of the required departments in the state had a CIT trained officer on staff. Only about 8 counties out of the state’s 82 have not met the requirement as of yet. 

“To me, that is phenomenal,” Bailey said.

Individuals receiving the training include professionals from the Attorney General’s Office, Capitol Police, College Police Departments, Sheriff Departments, and Municipal Police Departments. While one professional per department is required to receive the training, Bailey believes more is better.

“You need more than one,” Bailey said. “You should have one on every shift, but at least one law enforcement officer who is knowledgeable about behavior health services and supports that are in Mississippi, how to access those services and how to respond to someone who might be experiencing a behavioral health crisis.”

The law also mandates that by July 1, 2031, all law enforcement officers in the state receive the 8-hour Mental Health First Aid training. While not as intense as CIT training, it provides law enforcement officers with information on how to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illness or substance use disorder, Bailey described. 

Funding for the training

CIT training is provided at no cost to the local departments because HB 1222 appropriated an initial $1 million to the Department of Mental Health for implementation.

Not all of the initial legislative appropriation was used on CIT training. Bailey said the law also added more court liaisons to the community mental health centers, so her agency split the appropriation, putting $500,000 towards the CIT training and the other $500,000 towards grants for six court liaisons within the state, totaling $65,000 each.

Funding is also provided through a five-year federal grant aimed at diverting someone dealing with a mental health crisis away from a jail. The federal grant provides $315,783 per year.

“So, because of the Legislature providing the funding and the federal dollars, we’ve been able to provide it at no charge,” Bailey said.

The Legislature provided another $1 million in CIT funding this year, Bailey said. 

Changing perspectives

Bailey noted that many CIT training participants changed their view of those who suffer with mental health issues, reducing some of the common stigmas associated with the illness.

At the beginning of each 40-hour course, all participants were asked to fill out a survey to gauge their perspective of those who have a mental illness. At the conclusion of the training, the officers were asked to take the same survey again. Data collected from those surveys showed that prior to taking the training, 99 percent of untrained participants strongly felt that most people with a mental illness are dangerous. After receiving the training, about 44 percent felt the same way, Bailey described. 

“The surveys indicate there is reduced stigma, increased empathy and understanding, and a shift in perception and responsibility,” Bailey’s office shared. “For instance, prior to training, only one percent of participants strongly agreed that few suspects with a mental illness were dangerous. Post-training, that number increased to 56%.”

In addition, prior to completion of the course, 96 percent of participants believed they needed to be vigilant when dealing with a person suffering from a mental health crisis. That number dropped to about 50 percent post-training. 

As Bailey explained, the training is important because many times the person dealing with a mental health crisis is not the most dangerous person on scene. 

“Studies will tell you someone with mental illness has a greater chance of being the victim of an act of violence, rather than being the perpetrator,” she said.

What the training involves

According to Bailey, the training informs officers of the various mental health services available in Mississippi as well as how to access those services, such as through the mobile crisis response team and crisis stabilization unit. It also gives first responders de-escalation techniques to reduce unnecessary arrests.

“So, this training better prepares law enforcement officers because many times they are that first responder,” Bailey explained. “To respond with understanding and professionalism ensuring that people who are in a crisis receive the help that they need. And we tell officers, ‘You can be the difference between someone feeling hopeless, and someone finding a path to recovery. You could be the one that prevents the situation from escalating into violence.'”

Through CIT training, participants engage in intense instruction that includes role play scenarios. 

“One of the key things is the role play,” Bailey described. “So, you go through specific scenarios that you would encounter as a law enforcement officer, and it basically teaches you a different way to think in how to respond.”

Because it is done regionally, the training includes community mental health center staff across the state.

How to deal with the situation

Officers trained in CIT learn to keep their voice low when responding to instances of a mental health crisis, Lauderdale County Sheriff Wade Calhoun described. 

Calhoun has been providing CIT training, and the shorter 8-hour Mental Health First Aid training, to his personnel since 2013. They are also trained to determine the cause of the situation, such as if the person stopped taking their medication. 

“A lot of people don’t like taking their meds due to the side effects,” Calhoun added.

In instances where the person is found to need help at a crisis stabilization unit, a CIT officer has the ability to transport them for the service. 

“Being a CIT officer affords you legally the ability to take that person. They’re not under arrest. They are being detained by us but they’re being taken to that CSU for an assessment. They (CSU) make a determination what to do from there,” Calhoun explained.

Responding to an incident using CIT practices is not easy work. Since the aim is to de-escalate the situation, Calhoun said extra care must be employed.

“CIT calls take longer than most calls and so you have to spend some time and energy on that,” he said.

However, just because the person may be dealing with a mental health crisis, they still might end up in jail depending on the crime involved.

“There are times when people commit criminal acts and they are arrested,” Calhoun added. “Just because you have a mental health issue doesn’t mean you get to get off and go to the CSU just because you robbed a bank or broke into a house. I mean, it doesn’t work that way.” 

There are certain crimes officers will “overlook” if they are aware the person is in crisis. Some examples Calhoun used include disorderly conduct, public disturbance, or even urinating in public.

“These things we overlook when we determine these people think they are on the back side of the moon,” Calhoun said. “Arresting them and charging them for this is not going to get us very far at all. We’re better off trying to get them some kind of help.”

The growth of mental health response teams

Through this CIT training, there was also the establishment of fully operational CIT teams, which Bailey described as a collaboration between law enforcement, the community mental health center, primary health providers, behavioral health professionals in the community, and a local hospital or CSU as a single point of entry.

There are about 10 fully functional CIT teams currently in Mississippi. 

“That’s different than just having an officer trained in CIT,” Bailey added.

Benefits of having CIT

One of the regions with a fully operational CIT team is Region 10, which is served by the Weems Community Mental Health Center. The region includes Clarke, Jasper, Kemper, Lauderdale, Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Scott and Smith counties. 

In Calhoun’s experience, about 20 to 35 percent of people incarcerated at a county jail have some mental health component at play. 

“It doesn’t mean they’re always in crisis, it doesn’t mean they’re incapable of making decisions. It means that it is a factor of who they are,” Calhoun described. “So, selfishly, I was like, ‘Man, if we can figure out a way for y’all to help these folks, I’m all about it.'”

Today, he said more than 30 personnel of the total 52 staff slots in his department are trained in CIT.

“It’s kind of broken up. So, you want to have somebody always working who has the skill set, this ability to recognize when somebody is in a crisis and then be able to work to de-escalate situations,” Calhoun elaborated.

Calhoun believes it is just as important for dispatchers to be able to recognize the signs as responding officers, so they at least take the 8-hour Mental Health First Aid training. Many times the person calling 911 is the same one suffering from a mental health crisis. Improving their skillset in this area allows the dispatcher to identify those mental health situations and send the right person to the scene.

In a time when more is being asked of the nation’s first responders, Calhoun has heard concerns from fellow law enforcement professionals. 

“My answer is, ‘Because we are the tip of the spear, we’re the first responders. We’re just going to do the best we can with what we have, resources we have to take care of people. That’s what we do,'” Calhoun added. “But the truth is every day we’re dealing with these people, so I think we need to understand what’s going on and we need to have the relationships. It is one of the ways we serve the most vulnerable in our community. Just putting people in jail does not solve those kinds of problems.”