The present results suggest that people with mental health disorders are rarely arrested when
CIT officers respond to behavioral health crisis calls, and officers believe the programs
actually prevent arrest in a substantial number of cases. The low arrest rate among CIT calls
in Central Florida (3%) is consistent with prior estimates from CIT programs in other
regions (Steadman et al., 2000). The current study also found that a sizable proportion of
calls (19%) would probably have resulted in arrest before the CIT program, suggesting that
many arrests in behavioral health crisis calls are discretionary and potentially preventable.
This finding supports Lamb, Weinberger, and DeCuir (2002) and other researchers who
regard police officers as system ‘gatekeepers’ because they have such a high degree of influence
over whether a person enters the mental health or criminal justice system during a
crisis event.