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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 rates rose from about 82% in the program’s first year to about 99% in 2024 in their sample.
The team reported that roughly 91% of encounters included a connection to services or supports, with community discharges and emergency detention orders making up substantial shares of outcomes. Use of force and injuries were rare in enhanced activity‑log data: officer injuries occurred in fewer than 1% of studied incidents and civilian injuries in less than 3%; use of force was reported in about 1% of encounters.
Meadows praised program elements including a three‑week CIT academy plus quarterly refreshers, selective officer assignment, scripted call‑taker prompts and co‑responder pairing with EHN clinicians. The researchers also highlighted demand concentration by ZIP codes—two ZIPs (79928, 79938) accounted for more than half of encounters—suggesting regional deployment planning.
Recommendations submitted to the court included: establish warm‑handoff protocols with community providers and track long‑term linkage; pursue long‑term funding to reach 24/7 CIT coverage; add CAD/RMS flags and unique identifiers for CIT; integrate with public‑health information exchanges to monitor outcomes across systems; expand scenario‑based co‑training; and communicate program successes to reduce stigma.
County officials said staff will form work groups with Meadows, EHN and the sheriff’s office to implement the data and program recommendations. Meadows said more precise recidivism and long‑term outcome analysis depends on strengthening cross‑agency data links and obtaining required state datasets.
Why it matters: The evaluation provides evidence that the county’s CIT investment is meeting diversion and safety goals but identifies structural data and funding gaps to address if the county wants to expand and sustain the program.
