MEETING DATE
2/19/2015 |
BUREAU SUBMITTING THIS REPORT
Executive Office |
RESEARCHED BY (PRINT NAME)
Jan Bullard |
REVIEWED BY (PRINT NAME)
|
REPORT DATE
01/12/2015 |
APPROVED BY
Robert A. Stresak |
DATE APPROVED
01/21/15 |
PURPOSE
Information Only |
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Yes
|
| ISSUE: |
| This is an informational report on developments concerning mental health training issues for law enforcement. |
| BACKGROUND: |
In January 2014 an officer involved shooting that involved a person diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) occurred in the Sacramento County area. As a result of this incident, POST received inquiries from various legislators regarding existing law enforcement training resources for response to persons with mental illness.
Staff conducted a review of existing training. Mental health training is presented in the Regular Basic Course (RBC) in Learning Domain LD 37, Persons with Disabilities. The minimum hours for LD 37 is six classroom hours. Students must also read the workbook which requires two to three additional hours of study, are briefed regarding the mandatory mental health scenario which is an additional hour of study and must subsequently pass the mental health scenario examination in order to successfully complete the RBC. Failure to pass this test results in immediate disqualification from the academy.
Additional mental health training is also presented in LD 5 (Introduction to Criminal Law), LD 7 (Crimes Against Persons/Death Investigation), LD 9 (Crimes Against Children), LD 10 (Sex Crimes), LD 11 (Juvenile Law and Procedure), LD 16 (Search and Seizure), LD 20 (Use of Force), LD 21 (Patrol Techniques), LD 24 (Handling Disputes/Crowd Control), LD 25 (Domestic Violence), LD 28 (Traffic Enforcement), LD 31 (Custody), LD 33 (Arrest and Control), LD 35 (Firearms/Chemical Agents), LD 40 (Weapons Violations), and LD 42 (Cultural Diversity/Discrimination).
A review of in-service training revealed 38 mental health courses certified by POST and listed in the POST Course Catalog. Twenty-five are Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) courses, five are CIT Update courses and the remainder are a variety of mental health topics.
POST has also recently produced and distributed a training video on Autism, March, 2010, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder/Traumatic Brain Injury (PTSD/TBI) July 2012, Mental Health Update in August 2013, and will be releasing a training video on Law Enforcement Response to Incidents in Mental Health and Development Disability Facilities in February 2015.
In April 2014 POST Executive staff appeared before the Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 5, chaired by Senator Loni Hancock. POST presented this information to the Committee. Senator Hancock referred to the officer-involved-shooting in the Sacramento area and said she was considering the creation of a task force to review law enforcement interaction with persons with mental illness.
At the June 2014 meeting the Commission approved reinstatement of previously suspended reimbursement of mental health Plan IV courses using a one-time $3.2 million allocation to POST's budget.
In July 2014 an incident in Los Angeles involving a California Highway Patrol (CHP) officer again brought inquires to POST regarding the minimum training standards required for handling mental health incidents. On November 1, 2014, in response to this incident, the CHP held a Summit on Mental Health Issues. POST staff were invited to attend along with several mental health organizations, practitioners, legislative aides, and some law enforcement executives.
During the summit attendees discussed potential mental health training options for law enforcement including the "Memphis Model". This is a program developed in Memphis, Tennessee that includes a 40-hour CIT training component for law enforcement officers who volunteer to be on a Mental Health Response Team. It was suggested that this should be considered the “Gold Standard” of law enforcement mental health training. This program is currently being evaluated by the CHP.
The Summit lunch speaker was Senator Jim Beall who advised the attendees of his intent to introduce legislation to increase the number of hours of law enforcement mental health training. He advised the Summit attendees that they would be able to contribute to the content of this bill.
In December SB 11(Beall) was introduced. SB 11 proposes an unfunded mandate to add basic course training hours focusing on skills to defuse potentially volatile encounters with people with mental health disorders. Executive staff met with Senator Beall to discuss SB 11. The author did not believe that training currently offered to law enforcement was adequate. This included existing in-service supplements.
POST staff invited representatives of the California Police Chiefs Association (CPCA), the California State Sheriffs’ Association (CSSA), the California Peace Officers Association (CPOA), the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), and the CHP to discuss the issues related to SB 11. The attendees agreed that they were in favor of POST conducting an analysis to determine additional training needs for the RBC and for in-service training. The group agreed that the training should not be based on hours but on specified content targeting the learning and experience level of the student.
The consensus of the group was not in favor of a standardized curriculum since each jurisdiction has different needs, processes, policies, and resources. Concerns were raised that a 40-hour mandated CIT course would be an unreasonable training burden for law enforcement agencies.
It was also discussed that the Memphis Model relies heavily on community-based services and support and may not lend itself to easy implementation given the breadth and scope of California law enforcement agencies
Following the meeting, POST staff met with Senator Beall’s staff who reiterated the Senator’s intent to mandate POST to increase the number of hours in the RBC, and for POST to develop a course that would be mandated for completion by in-service law enforcement. The Senate staff said that the Senator was devising a plan to pay for the training and creation of mental health response teams and related mental health collaborative programs throughout the state.
Senator Beall's staff was advised of POST's intent to convene an LD 37 update meeting in March 2015. BTB staff will also review the current Field Training Program (FTP), the Field Training Officer (FTO) course, and the FTO Update course to determine whether there are additional competencies that could be added to reinforce mental health training.
LD 37 meetings will be attended by designated members of Senator Beall's staff. Staff members also tentatively agreed that POST could propose language that would define mandated topics so that individual agencies and presenters could customize their training to address the needs of their jurisdiction and available resources. |
| ANALYSIS: |
The Basic Training Bureau (BTB) is performing the review of the RBC and LD 37, the FTP, FTO and FTO update courses. Training Program Services Bureau (TPS) has completed a comparison of all certified CIT courses with the curriculum of the Memphis Model to identify the consistent themes: Mental Health Didactics – Identification of mental disorders, De-escalation and communication skills, Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) sec. 5150 evaluation/hold/report writing, case law and civil rights pertaining to WIC 5150 and the mentally ill and local resources and facilities information.
A subject matter expert (SME) group is being formed to review the topics and discuss other relevant curriculum for effective in-service training that can be considered for SB 11.
Proposed amendments to the Regular Basic Course Training and Testing Specifications (TTS) will be presented to the Commission for approval at its June 2015 meeting. If Senator Beall concurs with the proposed regulation change, the language in the bill would reflect the suggested changes offered by POST.
Further discussion is needed regarding in-service mental health training.
Staff has developed a page for the POST website to direct law enforcement to mental health resources such as training, and contact information for mental health organizations and existing CIT teams, and a mental health Did You Know informational video will be produced in February 2015. |
| RECOMMENDATION: |
| This report is presented for information only. No action is required. |
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