Crisis Intervention Survey

A preview article from the Fall 2016 edition of Minnesota Police Chief (Click for .pdf) (Click for Issuu).

While legislature has earmarked funding for crisis intervention training in recent years, larger law-enforcement supported bills with tangible solutions addressing our concerns have stalled. Based on past law enforcement coalition efforts and a feeling among some legislators that mandated crisis intervention training is needed, the MCPA wanted to hear from chiefs about their position on training and possible mandates.

About 80 percent of agencies responding to our survey have taken pro-active steps toward crisis intervention training, with 60 percent having at least some of their staff already trained. What that training looks like spans from a few officers taking a four-hour training to 40-hour training for the whole department.

The most common form of training, at 22 percent, was that select officers were sent (or will be sent in the next 18 months) to the full 40-hour crisis intervention training.

That was followed by “All of our officers have/will receive(d) the basic 4-hour crisis intervention training within the next 18 months,” according to 19 percent of respondents.

About 16 percent of respondents say “All of our officers have/will receive(d) the 8-hour crisis intervention training within the next 18 months.”

Only 6% responded that all officers have attended (or will attend) the full 40-hour crisis intervention training within the next 18 months. A couple of departments took advantage of a 40-hour train-the-trainer model.

Many who respondent to the survey say while law enforcement had a responsibility to train officers to handle mental health crisis calls, other state entities and social service agencies must step up their level of support for earlier diagnosis, mutual response and post crisis placement and treatment.

“’Let's throw some training at the cops to fix this’ is not the right solution,” responded a medium-size metro chief. “Cops are able to put Band-Aids on issues, but dispatch needs to stop sending officers to social worker calls. Social workers need a field unit.”

“Law enforcement has a role, however this is a huge silent problem in society and law enforcement is not in a position to provide long-term successful changes regarding mental health awareness and treatment,” a small agency chief in south east Minnesota responded.

When it comes to the appropriate level of training, about 55 percent of respondents say they’d want their officers to have 1-4 hours of crisis intervention training annually. Twenty percent support 5-8 hours of training, with 16 percent saying 8 or more hour of training annually.

The survey also demonstrates a split on training mandates. Slightly more than one-third of respondents say crisis intervention training should be a department decision and not mandates, with a little more than the next third being OK with an annual 4-hour training mandate if there is some level of reimbursement. Slightly more than a quarter of the remaining respondents would support a three-year 4-hour training mandate.

About the Survey: This was a non-scientific, online survey conducted between May 19 and June 13, 2016, with 128 responses. Responding agencies roughly mirror MCPA’s overall composition.