Train cops to deal with mentally ill

The National Alliance on Mental Illness is the nation's voice on mental illness. Part of our mission is to see that well-supported and well-staffed Crisis Intervention Teams are established in all communities.

We also advocate for effective treatment for people with mental illness caught up in the criminal justice system.

Crisis Intervention Teams are a pre-booking jail diversion program designed to improve the outcomes of police interactions with people with mental illnesses.

There is a 40-hour training program for law enforcement officers that includes basis information about mental illnesses and how to recognize them; information about the local mental health system and local laws; learning firsthand from consumers and family members about their experiences; verbal de-escalation training and role-plays.

A good percentage of interactions by police officers are with the mentally ill. One in four people killed in officer-involved shootings has a serious mental illness.

Most of the mentally ill are nonviolent. Most people are not aware that mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans 18 and older - almost one in four - suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.

Only 15 percent of the police officers in Chicago have CIT training. Many of the unfortunate recent incidents in Chicago and in the nation could be avoided if the police have this valuable training.

I hope and pray the Chicago Police Department and the city of Chicago see recent events as a wake-up call and start aggressively having more training in the immediate future. Otherwise, there will continue to be the senseless loss of life and lawsuits that are never ending. Crisis Intervention Training saves lives.

Joseph M. Jason, Chairman

NAMI Criminal Justice Advocacy for the Mentally Ill

Buffalo Grove