Evaluation of Chicago Police Department's Crisis Intervention Team for Youth training Year 1 July 2012

In 2010, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) provided the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Greater Chicago (NAMI-GC) with funding to implement the Crisis Intervention Team for Youth (CIT-Y) program within the Chicago Police Department (CPD). The CIT-Y program is a five-day, 40-hour course for law enforcement officers' on recognizing the symptoms of youth mental disorders, assessing risk levels youth have for hurting themselves and others, applying corresponding crisis de-escalation techniques, and, when appropriate, diverting youth from the juvenile justice system to community-based treatment services. This evaluation was conducted to assess the CIT-Y training components and offer recommendations to enhance the officers' understanding of the program objectives.