COPS Training Portal

Course Overview: Crisis Intervention First Look: Focused Response for Veterans, an eLearning course, offers insights and practical guidance on the applicability of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) for veterans in crisis. A significant aspect of responding to veterans in mental health crises is the delivery of appropriate and effective service. Addressing psychological distress among those who have served in our nation’s armed forces introduces a variety of unique factors to crisis response.

First responders and community service providers are turning to the CIT and Veterans Response Team models for a collaborative, structured, and coordinated approach to veteran-focused crisis response. The course examines factors impacting veterans’ mental health, the applicability of CIT in veteran-crisis response and Veterans Response Teams, and next steps and resources for implementation. Gain perspective on these topics from law enforcement officers, mental-health practitioners, and veteran and mental-health advocates.

 Learning Objectives:

• Examine psychological distress among veterans
• Examine possible indicators of psychological distress that may manifest in veterans
• Explore key factors impacting veterans in need of mental health support
• Recall current veteran-focused crisis response practices, including Veterans Response teams being implemented by CIT practitioners
• Describe elements of the CIT model that may effectively serve veterans in crisis and differentiate the additional elements in a Veterans Response team.
• Examine the goals and desired outcomes related to veteran-focused crisis response and the CIT model
• Recognize the next steps in Veterans Response Teams implementation planning
• Examine the benefits of collaborating with veteran support organizations and advocacy groups when planning CIT or Veterans Response Teams implementation

Target Audience: Public safety and community service practitioners, decision-makers, and policy planners from any discipline involved in facilitating effective responses to mental health crises experienced by veterans.

Cooperative Partners: This tuition-free online training was developed by the National Center for Policing Innovation (NCPI) and was originally supported by cooperative agreement 15JCOPS-21-GK-02306-SPPS by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Learning Hours: 1 hour including the pre-test and post-test.

Is this POST approved in my state?

Course Overview: Crisis Intervention First Look: Focused Response for Youth, an eLearning course, offers insights and practical guidance on the applicability of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) for the youth population. As children and teens confront startling rates of psychological distress, first responders and community service providers turn to the CIT model for a collaborative, structured, and coordinated response.

The course explores the growing factors impacting youth mental health and the needs of various youth populations.  Focusing on the applicability of CIT youth crisis response, the course provides next steps and resources for CIT implementation. Law enforcement officers, mental health practitioners, and mental health advocates draw upon their unique experiences to share best practices.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine the contributing factors to mental health crises in young people
• Explore the impact of youth mental health issues on communities
• Examine the need for crisis response for youth
• Explore current youth-focused crisis response practices being implemented by CIT practitioners
• Examine the goals and desired outcomes related to youth-focused crisis response and the CIT model
• Identify the potential benefits of CIT implementation on youth-focused crisis response
• Explore the next steps in CIT implementation planning to support youth in crisis
• Identify key national CIT, youth support and mental health organizations and resources

Target Audience: Public safety and community service practitioners, decision makers, and policy planners from any discipline involved in facilitating effective responses to youth mental-health crises.

Cooperative Partners: This tuition-free online training was developed by the National Center for Policing Innovation (NCPI) and was originally supported by cooperative agreement 15JCOPS-21-GK-02306-SPPS by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Learning Hours: 1 hour including the pre-test and post-test.

Is this POST approved in my state?

Course Overview: Crisis Intervention: Overview of Effective Models, an eLearning course, offers insights and practical guidance on the applicability of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT). Mental health support and responding to those in crisis are two of the paramount public safety challenges facing our nation’s communities. A significant aspect of these challenges is the delivery of appropriate and effective services to those who find themselves in crisis.

Faced with alarming rates of psychological distress within communities across the nation, first responders and community service providers are turning to the CIT Model for a collaborative, structured, and coordinated response. The course addresses the rise in mental health crises, the applicability of the CIT Model in crisis response, and next steps and resources for CIT implementation. Gain perspective on these topics from law enforcement officers, mental-health practitioners, and mental-health advocates.

Learning Objectives:

• Examine key aspects of the current mental health crisis
• Recognize the range of crisis response options and models
• Describe the ways in which CIT implementation may benefit police, mental health agencies, and the public
• Identify the goals and desired outcomes related to the CIT Model
• Examine the community-based and collaborative dynamics of the CIT Model
• Identify the relationship between CIT and community policing
• Explain the partnership between law enforcement and mental health agencies in a CIT program
• Explore the opportunities to build program capacity through stakeholder engagement and feedback
• Illustrate the characteristics of effective crisis response systems
• Describe practices that may assist partnership agencies in effective implementation planning, community engagement, and response to challenges
• Consider the composition of a crisis response steering committee
• Highlight pre-planning considerations such as funding, training, personnel, and identifying resources
• Identify key national, CIT, and mental health organizations and resources
• Introduce the CIT Programs Best Practices Guide and the CIT ASSIST Resource Center
• Introduce the web-based supplemental courses that complement this course

Target Audience: Decision makers, policy planners, and leadership in law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Cooperative Partners: This tuition-free online training was developed by the National Center for Policing Innovation (NCPI) and was originally supported by cooperative agreement 15JCOPS-21-GK-02306-SPPS by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

Learning Hours: 4 hours including the pre-test and post-test.

Is this POST approved in my state?

Course Overview: Introduction to Public Safety De-escalation Tactics for Military Veterans in Crisis, an eLearning course, provides law enforcement with key signs that a veteran faces significant mental health challenges connected to military service and demonstrates proven tactics that can be used when responding to affected veterans.

The prevalence of “invisible wounds” grows among the veteran population. One in five veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression, but only half of those who need treatment seek medical help. Serious mental health challenges connected to military service such as depression, PTSD, and anxiety have direct ties to substance abuse and homelessness, taking a heavy toll on those who have served. Often, law enforcement responds to calls for veterans in crisis as they face significant challenges of reintegration into civilian society.

This course enhances the skills and capabilities of law enforcement officers and relevant first responders when encountering critical incidents involving veterans who may be in crisis. It intends to improve officer safety by providing learners with an understanding of PTSD and other challenging factors for veterans, proven verbal de-escalation techniques, and references to resources available to veterans to cope.

The main topics include recognizable signs that a person is a veteran, the multitude of factors that may be impacting a veteran’s ability to reintegrate into their communities, and multiple verbal de-escalation tactics to be used in crisis encounters with veterans to defuse potentially violent situations.

Warning: This course contains images, videos, and sounds that may be disturbing. Learner discretion is advised.

Learning Objectives:

• Define veterans
• Identify wartime stressors that active military experience
• Describe the effect of multiple deployments on veterans
• Identify how exposure to wartime conditions may result in long-term psychological problems
• Explain the impact of sustained operations overseas and how veterans may react with heightened tension to domestic situations
• Recognize the need for proper public safety/law enforcement intervention
• Define Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Identify common mental health manifestations of PTSD
• Recognize the stigma attached to EDPs and those diagnosed with PTSD
• Identify safety issues associated with PTSD and EDPs
• Identify ways to assess the behavior of veterans in crisis when responding to a call
• Describe de-escalation tactics when encountering veterans in crisis situations
• Describe EDP response principles
• Identify response principles that have proven to be successful for veterans in crisis
• Utilize activities and demonstrate successful response strategies
• Identify how to access resources available to veterans and their families
• Identify types of technologies that may assist returning veterans with reintegration

Target Audience: Law enforcement practitioners and first responders.

Cooperative Partners: This tuition-free online training was developed by the UT Law Enforcement Innovation Center (LEIC), an agency of the University of Tennessee Institute for Public Service and was originally supported by cooperative agreement 2018-CK-WXK-010 by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).

Learning Hours: 2 hours including the pre-test and post-test.

Is this POST approved in my state?

Course Overview: The Call: Serving Those with Behavioral and Cognitive Disabilities, an eLearning course designed as a video-based simulation, provides learners with an opportunity to assume the roles of three different law enforcement officers in an interactive movie, make decisions for these officers, and experience the consequences of their choices. The course trains officers on best practices for the recognition and response to incidents involving civilians with mental illness. Topics include properly assessing the situation, effective communication techniques, active listening, de-escalation, and crisis intervention.

This course continues the advancement of community policing by further enhancing mental illness training for law enforcement professionals through eLearning. The choose-your-own-journey approach of this course allows learners to assume the role of playable characters in an interactive simulation. Playing as three different officers in three different scenarios, learners experience in real time the feeling of responding to calls involving individuals with cognitive or behavioral conditions that may cause impairment. Each module (Introduction, Knowing the Signs, and Crisis Intervention) challenges learners to make quick decisions in response to the situations unfolding in front of them. Learners then experience the consequences of their choices. This course provides all law enforcement professionals, from new officers to seasoned veterans, best practice recommendations from leading experts in the field of mental health awareness and response.

Learning Objectives:

• Explain considerations that officers make when responding to individuals with mental health or cognitive and emotional impairments
• Identify on-scene responses when an individual in crisis does not have a support system
• Identify basic principles that apply to any call, including those involving mental illness or I/DDs
• Identify if mental health is a driver of a call - taking the extra moment to gain any insight into the subject's mental state could be critical
• Explain how communication with a subject may be the best tactical tool to increase safety
• Apply crisis intervention strategies with active listening skills

Target Audience: Law enforcement personnel.

Cooperative Partners: This tuition-free online training was developed by WILL Interactive and was originally supported by cooperative agreement 2018-CK-WXK-011 by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS).

Learning Hours: 1 hour including the pre-test and post-test.

Is this POST approved in my state?

Course Overview: Innovations in Crisis Response: What CIT Programs Need to Know, an e-Guide, features the latest practices in crisis response and provides case study examples of communities leading the way.

Recently, innovations in crisis response have made it possible for local communities to increase their capacity for responses that do not place responsibility solely on law enforcement. The e-Guide highlights trends in crisis response including 988 – the national crisis line number, law-enforcement and mental health co-response teams, growth of non-law enforcement community responders, and mobile crisis teams for children and youth. Each innovation is illustrated by an in-depth case study of a community or state program which includes audio interviews, commentary by experts in the field, lessons learned, links to outside resources and organizations, and a checklist of next steps for local CIT leaders interested in bringing these innovations to their communities.

Target Audience: Law enforcement agencies and practitioners, as well as mental health agencies and practitioners, telecommunicators, crisis line staff, mental health advocates and other community organizations.

Cooperative Partners: This tuition-free online resource was developed by the National Center for Policing Innovation (NCPI) and was originally supported by cooperative agreement 15JCOPS-21-GK-02306-SPPS by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.