The Anne Arundel County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) has clinched the highest award, bringing home a platinum certification from CIT International. The Anne Arundel County Police Force and behavioral healthcare professionals have a genuine reason to celebrate this momentous occasion, earning them global recognition. According to CBS News Baltimore, this award distinguishes the program as a beacon of best practices for handling behavioral health crises. CIT International's Executive Director, Bart Oates, noted, "They are exhibiting the highest degree of best practices" in praise of the county's efforts.
Indeed, beyond certificates, at the heart of the CIT initiative lies a harmonious coalition between law enforcement and healthcare professionals aiming to craft a compassionate and competent response to mental health emergencies, citadels of trust the community can look toward when shadows gather, as Anne Arundel County Police Chief Amal Awad stated per Eye On Annapolis, officers and clinicians work "hand-in-hand" sealing the cracks through which those in crisis might otherwise slip.
The county's CIT traces its ideals to the Memphis Model, a method rooted in collaborative crisis intervention. Since its full integration into the county’s crisis response system in 2014, more officers have chosen to become CIT certified. Lt. Steven Thomas, a coordinator for the Anne Arundel County team, described the work as lifesaving in an interview reported by CBS News Baltimore, acknowledging the gratitude from those who helped: "We see the appreciation that they have," Thomas said. "We see it when we're sending people to treatment instead of jail."
Real-life impact stories paint a vivid picture of the program's effect, such as high school teacher Melissa Owens’s encounter with the Anne Arundel County CIT during her mental health crisis, "I went through a very difficult two months where I experienced a lot of symptoms of psychosis," Owens recounted to CBS News Baltimore, expressing how the CIT’s intervention not just detained the spiral but eased her transition back into her daily life.
