Across Ohio, law enforcement is changing how officers respond to help people who are experiencing a mental health crisis to avoid tragedies like Eleanor Bumpurs, Deborah Danner, Daniel Prude, and Tanisha Anderson, who died after an escalated conflict with the police.
Since 2000, through the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training program, law enforcement has been building skills to help identify people with mental illnesses and ways to intervene accordingly. Through CIT, people experiencing mental illness have the opportunity to avoid deeper involvement in the criminal justice system and onto the clinical track, leading to support, stability and healing.
Shannon Scully, director of justice policy and initiatives, said officers are often misassigned to these calls. “They [law enforcement] kind of get put between a rock and a hard place,” Scully said, “because we rely on them as a safety net when we don’t have other options.”
However, programs that train police to identify mental illness are being implemented to mitigate this issue.
Executive Director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Ohio CIT program, Luke Russell, said that Ohio has trained over half of the state’s police officers in CIT. Police-based programs, like CIT, have been diverting individuals with mental illness toward the clinical track.
The origins of intervention
The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model was born from tragedy in Memphis, Tenn. In 1988, Dr. Randy Dupont and Maj. Sam Cochran developed the program after an officer shot and killed a man with serious mental illness. From this, the Memphis chapter of the NAMI, the University of Tennessee Medical School, and the University of Memphis collaborated to provide more training for police officers to identify and support those with mental illness.
CIT has been utilized by many communities and has been implemented statewide in Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Utah, and Ohio. Russell said that the 40-hour training includes education about mental illness, lived experience testimonials, role-playing exercises and distressing-voices simulation.
CIT in action
According to the Cleveland Division of Police’s CIT brochure, people can call 911 in an emergency, the Cleveland police non-emergency line at 216-621-1234 or the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline for mental health crisis support.
Callers should provide as much information as possible about the situation, including the name of the person in crisis and a description.
The caller should also provide a list of medications and whether the person has stopped taking them, if they know this information. Information regarding access to weapons and any known history of interacting with police should also be shared when calling. 
CIT provides the opportunity for law enforcement to recognize symptoms of a mental health crisis instead of seeing the behavior as criminal intent. Dispatchers are also being trained to better identify calls suited for CIT. According to the 2024 City of Cleveland Mental Health Response Advisory Committee (MHRAC) annual report, 90 of 92 dispatchers received “dispatch focused” behavioral health training.
Emily Ribnik, director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence, emphasizes early intervention. “The earlier in any process that you can appropriately identify somebody and get them to the right care at the right time with the right place, that’s where you really start to see a lot of those results,” Ribnik said.
In Cleveland, the need is clear. CIT officers responded to 4,901 incidents in 2025, averaging about 408 incidents per month, according to the 2025 MHRAC annual report. The report also found that only 2.4% of CIT incidents resulted in an arrest.
The goal of CIT training is de-escalation using tactics like active listening, non-threatening communication, calm body language and identifying signs of mental illness. Once the situation is de-escalated, law enforcement assesses whether it is resolved or more support is needed.
Through de-escalation, law enforcement officers can connect individuals experiencing behavioral health crises with diversion and deflection programs designed to reduce involvement with the criminal justice system.
Defining the on-ramp to care
Ribnik defines deflection as the connection of individuals and services before they have formal involvement with the justice system. Diversion is similar to deflection but occurs after the individual has gotten involved with the local justice system. In both cases, the goal is to match people with services, not charges. Whether diversion or deflection, the data suggests CIT is making an impact.
Ongoing challenges
Russell said the shortage of psychiatric inpatient beds in Ohio hospitals, a lack of mental health case managers and high turnover rates have created major gaps in follow-up care.
Although CIT is proving to be impactful, follow-up care is needed. Scully said, “The mental health system for so long has just been under-resourced. And so there isn’t just one thing we can do to address all of these challenges.” Ultimately, CIT serves as a vital first step but not the entire solution.
The road ahead
Because of CIT programs, mental health crisis support is being addressed, and community connections are being formed, but the need for help remains high, and there is still more to do after the person is no longer in crisis.
As effective as CIT can be, it still begins with a 911 call and a police response. Across the country, some communities are building a different model entirely. Some advocates and communities are questioning whether law enforcement should respond to all mental health crises.
The third article in this series will look at non-police-based programs that provide support and resources to those experiencing mental health crises.
Jennifer Bailey is a licensed clinical social worker and registered drama therapist
