TOMORROW (Tuesday, Dec. 7), Houston Mayor Annise Parker, Police Chief Charles A. McClelland, Jr., the HPD Mental Health Unit/Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) and several partners of Houston's mental health community will be recognized by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and corporate sponsor Cisco for their outstanding efforts in a pilot project
The award presentation will take place at City Hall, 3rd floor in the Mayor's Proclamation Room.
The goals of the project were to reduce the number of encounters between identified individuals with serious and persistent mental illnesses with the Houston Police Department and identify unmet needs and barriers in the community that contribute to an individual’s inability to engage and remain in mental health treatment.
The HPD CIT program provides officers with training on mental illness and crisis intervention/de-escalation techniques. This training is proven to help officers de-escalate situations involving individuals in serious mental health crisis.
The goal of the program is to keep officers and mental health consumers safe in these encounters. The training results in a more professional, effective and humane response by law enforcement officers to individuals with mental illness.
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