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Evaluation finds county CIT program diverts jail and hospital encounters at high rates; recommends data and funding upgrades
Summary
A Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute evaluation found that El Paso County's CIT co‑response teams diverted about 94% of encounters from jail or hospitalization, linked 91% of callers to services and reported rare use of force; reviewers urged standardized CAD/RMS flags, sustained funding for 24/7 coverage and better cross‑agency data sharing.
A multi‑year evaluation by the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute presented to the Commissioners Court on March 19 concluded that the El Paso County Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) model is producing significant diversion and linkage outcomes, while recommending steps to strengthen data systems and funding.
Rebecca Marolina, director of population health analytics at Meadows, summarized the quantitative results: "Since the launch, the team has responded to over 4,000 encounters… 94% of all CIT encounters resulted in some form of jail diversion or diversion from hospitalization." She said diversion…
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