The Dispositions of Mental Health-Related 911 Calls with CIT Officers in Seattle: Arrest Rates and Community Linkages

Background and Purpose: The United States has the highest level of incarceration in the world leading to a call for change in police practice and training. Mental health-related 911-calls have continued to increase in recent years forcing policing agencies to evaluate their methods when it comes to addressing behavioral and mental crisis-related 911 calls. Crisis Intervention Training (or CIT) is a model adopted by police departments nationwide to better prepare officers for mental health crisis calls. We assessed the effectiveness of CIT by examining its association with arrest rate and linkages or referrals to community services.

Methods: We reviewed a total of 3,560 dispatch 911-calls taking place between January 1 and December 31, 2023 in Seattle, Washington. All calls were mental health in nature and included people in behavioral crisis, suicidal/suicidality, or those in need of a welfare check. Disposition was the main dependent variable with three possible outcomes: arrest, community linkages, or other (refused services, citizen not located or not action necessary/possible). The predictors in the model included whether officer was CIT or not, their years of experience, race, and gender were all analyzed to find any relationships between the variables and the disposition. The main independent variable of the model was whether an officer was trained in CIT or not. Model covariates included: officer years of experience, officer race, and officer gender. Force was used less than 1% of the time (n=19) and therefore was not statistically feasible to include in the model. We analyzed the data using multivariable, multinomial logistic regression with “other” as the reference category, calculating relative risk ratios.

Results: Community referrals and linkages were the most common disposition reported (52%), followed by arrest or emergency detention at 35%. In the multivariable model, we found officers with CIT were more likely to make community linkages and referrals (RRR= 1.2541, p=.026); CIT officers were also more likely to arrest (RRR=1.4171, p<.001), as compared to non-CIT officers, when responding to a mental health 911 call. The years of experience of the officer was also a significant predictor when it came to disposition (RRR=1.0149, p=.053); more specifically, those with fewer years of experience were more likely to refer to community linkages.

Conclusions and Implications: The increase in community linkages and referrals by CIT officers aligns with current research covering mental health-related 911 calls answered by these officers; but despite expectations, our analysis found higher levels of calls being handled by CIT officers resulting in arrest, contrary to the purpose of the training. In a nation that has the highest level of incarceration and arrest rates, more research is needed to understand how CIT can be better refined to reduce rates of arrest and improve linkages to community services and referrals.