Abstract
In 2014, the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC) shifted from a paramilitary “warrior”-style training to a guardian model focused on community participation, social justice, procedural justice, and de-escalation and crisis intervention skills. The current study examines the effects of crisis intervention team (CIT) training components in the WSCJTC guardian curricula. A quasi-experimental pre-/post-survey design was employed comparing responses from a sample of 139 WSCJTC Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) recruits who completed BLEA in 2015 with two comparison groups—(1) 296 BLEA graduates who completed training prior to implementation of the guardian training who had no prior CIT training and (2) 851 BLEA graduates who completed training prior to implementation of the guardian training who had prior CIT training. Additionally, the study examined the effects of a WSCJTC’s 40-hour CIT training through a pre-/post-survey of 78 law enforcement personnel who completed the voluntary 40-hour CIT in-service training. Significant training effects were observed for the 8-hour and 40-hour CIT training programs. Results offer support for continued implementation of the 8-hour CIT training component in BLEA and the 40-hour CIT training. Implications for continued improvements to law enforcement training are discussed.
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Notes
The acronym “CIT” is used in the literature to refer to both crisis intervention team and crisis intervention training. The original CIT model was based on crisis intervention “teams.” However, in recent years, the CIT model has been implemented in law enforcement agencies to focus more broadly on crisis intervention training of all law enforcement personnel.
We use the term “individuals in behavioral crisis” throughout this paper, reflecting a broad view of individuals experiencing behavioral crisis resulting from conditions such as substance abuse and other conditions such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, in addition to mental illness.
The original Memphis Model focused on the voluntary nature of CIT training emphasizing that officers volunteer to complete the 40-hour training.
WSCJTC’s shift to a guardian paradigm began in January 2013, but was not complete until the Blue Courage© program was fully implemented into the curriculum in July 2014. Additional elements have been added and/or adapted since that time.
Diagnostics indicated that the pattern of correlations between CIT Support items was sufficient to yield reliable factors (KMO = .80, Bartlett’s Test = 3168.6, df = 15, p < .000). The results of a principal components analysis (PCA) suggested the presence of a single underlying factor, with the largest drop in eigenvalues between the first and second components to below 1.0. Cronbach’s alpha for the full scale was equal to .88, and specific item removal would yield no improvement in reliability.
Not all WSCJTC CIT training objectives were captured in the CIT scenarios included in the survey instrument. Items specific to fetal alcohol syndrome and bipolar disorder were not included due to concerns related to survey length
See Helfgott et al. (2018) for qualitative findings on staff response to the survey and their perspective on the guardian training shift at WSCJTC.
The authors acknowledge the potential for artificial upward pressure within the pre- survey responses, as the survey instrument was administered following strenuous physical exertion and the understanding that the cadet would be entering the academy.
The post survey was administered at a point where the recruits had completed all coursework and knew they would be graduating. Artificial upward pressure was also acknowledged for this point in survey administration, though it was deemed roughly equivalent to pre-survey effects.
Note: Although we were unable to match the data completely between pre and post BLEA and CIT due to sample attrition and incomplete identifying information, a majority of the data was able to be matched using slightly smaller samples (BLEA = 137, CIT = 73). No significant differences were observed between the original and paired samples with respect to age, race, gender, current rank, years in law enforcement, and education level.
Scenarios 4–6 were only administered to the 40-hour in-service CIT group in pre/post surveys.
Several law enforcement agencies, including the Seattle Police Department, have implemented data collection practices that capture detailed elements of police-citizen interactions in behavioral crisis incidents (See Helfgott et al. (2015) for a description of the Seattle Police Department’s CIT data collection plan). This data offers a rich source of information for detailed analysis of officer response to behavioral crisis incidents.
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission Executive Director Sue Rahr and her staff, to the law enforcement personnel who participated in this study, and to members of the research team on the pilot evaluation of the WSCJTC Guardian Basic Law Enforcement Academy Training, Joycelyn Pollock, John Vinson, and Matthew Hickman, and research assistants Chelsea Conn-Johnson and Natasha Wood.
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This study was funded by the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission.
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Helfgott, J.B., Strah, B.M., Atherley, L. et al. Evaluation of CIT Components of Guardian Law Enforcement Training. J Police Crim Psych 36, 403–422 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-020-09405-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11896-020-09405-y