E-Newsletter Edition: July 18, 2007
Always note that state law may be more restrictive on police power than the U.S. Constitution.
QUESTION:
Do you know how many hours the courts are requiring police departments to train their officers in the area of mental illness/emotionally disturbed persons?
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ANSWER:
I will tell you that the “best practice” presently available is the 40 hour CIT training that was modeled after Memphis, TN– The “Memphis Plan” is what everyone cites as the way to go- this involves a 40 hour block of instruction. The court cases, for the most part, have not criticized law enforcement on the length of instruction-but that may come. Bear in mind, that a lot of departments have not figured out the potential exposure in this area and as a result do not do any training at all. I hate to admit this, but the courts continually say, if you do something (even a little) you overcome the standard of care for training which is, deliberate indifference. If you do something, your trainers and agency have not been deliberately indifferent.
