CIT Echo: Innovative Program Making Difference For First Responders Throughout New Mexico

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on September 16, 2022
- 7:50 am

CIT ECHO News:

CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) Echo began in 2016 with a grant from the Department of Justice and a partnership between the Albuquerque Police Department, UNM Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Project ECHO.

The intent of the continuing education program is to provide first responders with much-needed tools to effectively work with people struggling with mental health issues.

The mission of CIT ECHO is to improve law enforcement interactions with people living with mental illness with the aim of increasing the safety of law enforcement and individuals in behavioral health crisis, fostering connections with the mental health system, and raising the level of community policing.

This little-known program is making a difference.

Program administrators track data, and these are the results to date:

90% of CIT ECHO participants feel comfortable interacting with people with mental illness;
Prior to participating in CIT ECHO, 21% of participants thought people with mental illness required use of force to maintain officer safety. After participating in the program, that number dropped to 4%;
86% of participants now have access to resources and how to effectively interact with someone with a mental illness;
80% know whether a hospital or jail are the appropriate venues for people with a mental illness that committed crimes;
84% have learned de-escalation skills; and
The numbers shifted to 71% from 36% that it is the job of law enforcement to connect people with mental illness to treatment.

Since COVID, all training sessions are done via zoom, which has allowed the program to expand statewide.

“We hear so much about what law enforcement is doing wrong,” said Kimberly McManus, CIT ECHO Project Coordinator. “What people aren’t aware of is all the training and the commitment law enforcement has to help everyone in the communities they serve.”

“Years into the project I still believe the most rewarding aspect of CIT ECHO for me is seeing officers gain confidence in their ability to navigate situations involving community members with behavior health difficulties,” Albuquerque Police Det. Benjamin Melendrez said.

“We would like more people to be involved with CIT ECHO,” McManus added.