The San Francisco Police Department adopted the Memphis Model of Crisis Intervention Training in 2011, after three years in a row in which every person killed in a police shooting had a mental illness. CIT trains officers, who are often on the front lines of mental health crises, in de-escalation techniques. Since SFPD adopted the program, have things improved?
“Dial It Down,” a three-part radio series for KQED News, explores the problem of police shootings of people in mental health crisis in the Bay Area. Reported with Alex Emslie.