SUMMARY
In the course of its duties, the 2011–2012 Ventura County Grand Jury (Grand Jury, or Jury) attended a Ventura County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program briefing by Ventura County (County) law enforcement. The subject was the training program for the CIT and its application in the County. Recognizing the importance of the program to County citizenry, the Grand Jury opened an inquiry to examine the policies and procedures governing the program and their implementation within the County.

The Grand Jury interviewed and obtained information from knowledgeable persons with respect to the subject of the inquiry and attended a CIT briefing by Ventura County law enforcement agencies that specifically addressed the subject of this inquiry in detail. The Grand Jury examined the CIT practices and written policies of County law enforcement agencies and gathered current data with respect to the various agencies’ participation in CIT. The Jury also considered the history of CIT in the County and researched the history of CIT on the Internet. The Jury also visited emergency (911) dispatch centers located in the County to assess application of CIT intervention in crisis-dispatch actions and the application of the training by the 911 call takers and dispatchers.

Cultural changes in the United States, with respect to the way persons with mental illness were treated and housed, increased the likelihood that persons with mental illness would not be isolated from at-large communities and would come into contact with law enforcement.

At the turn of the century, the County experienced a spike in officer involved shootings (OIS, or OISs) resulting in citizen deaths. In certain cases it appeared, in hindsight, that some of these past County OISs might have been avoided by the use of alternative tactics at the scene. These OISs emphasized the need for crisis intervention training.

CIT first appeared in the County in December 2001 as a collaborative effort of the Ventura County Sheriff (Sheriff), the City of Oxnard Police Department (Oxnard PD), the City of San Buenaventura Police Department (Ventura PD), and the Ventura County Behavioral Health Department (Behavioral Health). This effort was in response to the referenced cultural changes and the nationally growing change in police contact practice with the mentally ill—as evidenced by the seminal Memphis, Tennessee CIT program of 1988 (Memphis model).

A two year grant was secured in 2002 paying for two civilian positions to run the CIT program on a countywide basis. In June of 2004, until additional grants could be obtained, County law enforcement officials—the Sheriff and the Police Departments of the five County cities not contracted with the Sheriff for police services—entered into a countywide “Ventura County Law Enforcement, Crisis Intervention Team Memorandum of Agreement” (MOA). This MOA was to perpetuate funding for the CIT program and for the necessary civilian management positions. At present, an extension of that MOA is in process.

As developed in Memphis, and subsequently throughout the country, “CIT . . . is a specialized police-based program intended to enhance officer’s interactions with individuals with mental illnesses and improve the safety of all parties involved in mental health crises.” These programs are an “. . . effort to bring together law enforcement personnel, mental health professionals, and advocates.”

In connection with developing the CIT program for the County, Ventura County Law Enforcement also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Behavioral Health establishing a collaborative effort between the departments for CIT training along with appropriate funding understandings. Inclusion of the Behavioral Health Department in the CIT concept is an essential element expected by the Memphis model.

The Grand Jury has found that the CIT program has been enthusiastically endorsed and implemented by all law enforcement agencies in the County—including the County Probation Agency—though it is not a signatory to the MOA. Moreover, the County CIT program has been tailored to the County’s particular needs and appears to be working well and achieving its goals. The CIT training and staffing of all participating law enforcement agencies far exceeds the expectations expressed for the Memphis model. In fact, the CIT program was briefed to Orange County officials who recently experienced a fatal police-contact incident resulting in the death of an allegedly mentally ill person. That incident has resulted in the indictment of two Orange County City of Fullerton police officers.

Go to the Grand Jury website to review the entire report http://grandjury.countyofventura.org