Wyoming sheriffs and chiefs push statewide expansion of Crisis Intervention Teams after grant-funded training reached hundreds

Alan Thompson, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police (WASCOP), and retired Chief Roy Eckert briefed the House Labor, Health & Social Services Committee on efforts to expand Crisis Intervention Teams, or CIT, across Wyoming.

Thompson told the committee that WASCOP entered into a contract with the Wyoming Department of Health to expand and professionalize CIT delivery statewide and to “secure and train the trainers,” and that the grant supported reimbursements for agencies whose personnel attended CIT training. "We've been asked to talk to the committee about CIT," Thompson said, describing the association's role as a conduit for training and interagency communication.

CIT presenters and WASCOP officials told the committee the program is intended to be a community-based team effort — not just a training class — that brings law enforcement, mental-health providers, advocacy groups and people with lived experience together to identify and fill local gaps in crisis response. "CIT is a community based program that requires more than just a law enforcement presence at the table," said Roy Eckert, identified in the meeting as a retired Powell police chief and president of the board of CIT International.

Thompson and Eckert described concrete training activity supported by the grant. Thompson said the grant had reimbursed agencies for training 254 personnel and that, counting other sources and prior training, WASCOP recorded 635 personnel trained through 2023. Eckert said the organization held a statewide CIT conference and that the first conference drew 102 attendees. The presenters also described a public-facing landing page for CIT Wyoming at citwyoming.org and a secure members area for resource sharing.

Training content and local implementation: Eckert said the standard CIT training is a 40-hour classroom model that covers the principal behavioral-health presentations officers may encounter and emphasizes de-escalation and referral to services rather than defaulting to arrest. He described training exercises intended to build empathy — for example, a NAMI-developed "hearing voices" exercise that simulates auditory disturbances to help officers understand how some people experience psychosis.

Program goals, data and local variation: WASCOP representatives told the committee that, among agencies that responded to their voluntary survey, about 50% of peace officers in those agencies were CIT-trained; statewide, Thompson said approximately 23% of peace officers, 6% of detention staff and 9% of dispatch personnel had received CIT or related training. Eckert noted a commonly-cited national goal of 25% of an agency's officers trained and said Wyoming is near that benchmark. Thompson cautioned that reporting was voluntary and that some agencies had existing CIT programs and therefore did not seek grant reimbursement.

Grant mechanics and timeline: Thompson said the Department of Health grant began in spring 2022 and was set to expire at the end of 2024; he said WASCOP secured an extension that will carry funding through June 30 (as discussed in the meeting) and that the grant supported overtime, travel and other costs associated with sending personnel off-shift for a full week of training. He told committee members that funding is scheduled to end after that extension and that WASCOP will seek other funding to continue statewide activities. "That funding ends, and we don't know where we would be at after that," Thompson said.

Local examples and outcomes: Eckert and Thompson gave local examples of CIT interventions that avoided criminal processing. Eckert described an elderly woman who, when off medication, painted walls with chocolate syrup; post-CIT, officers would contact the county behavioral-health provider so the woman could be stabilized and returned to medication without arrest. He also described a veteran who barricaded himself and was de-escalated by two CIT officers and later connected with the Veterans Administration. Both presenters said officers trained in CIT increasingly recognize when a call is primarily a behavioral-health crisis rather than a criminal incident and seek alternatives to arrest.

Committee questions and follow-up: Committee members asked about community attitudes toward law enforcement after CIT training, whether school resource officers receive CIT training, the grant funding model, and the effect of CIT on jail populations. Thompson and Eckert said CIT can reduce repeat calls for service, that many SROs are patrol officers who receive the same training, and that long-term data collection on outcomes remains a goal. Thompson said WASCOP aims to develop regional and virtual co-responder capacity and is studying pilot mental-health treatment courts in some counties.

No formal committee action was taken during the presentation. WASCOP told the committee it will continue training and planning activities as grant funding allows and that a statewide CIT symposium and additional trainings are planned as part of the current grant period.