Evaluation of CIT Components of Guardian Law Enforcement Training

In 2014, the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC) shifted from a paramilitary “warrior”-style training to a guardian model focused on community participation, social justice, procedural justice, and de-escalation and crisis intervention skills. The current study examines the effects of crisis intervention team (CIT) training components in the WSCJTC guardian curricula. A quasi-experimental pre-/post-survey design was employed comparing responses from a sample of 139 WSCJTC Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) recruits who completed BLEA in 2015 with two comparison groups—(1) 296 BLEA graduates who completed training prior to implementation of the guardian training who had no prior CIT training and (2) 851 BLEA graduates who completed training prior to implementation of the guardian training who had prior CIT training. Additionally, the study examined the effects of a WSCJTC’s 40-hour CIT training through a pre-/post-survey of 78 law enforcement personnel who completed the voluntary 40-hour CIT in-service training. Significant training effects were observed for the 8-hour and 40-hour CIT training programs. Results offer support for continued implementation of the 8-hour CIT training component in BLEA and the 40-hour CIT training. Implications for continued improvements to law enforcement training are discussed.