(a) The Department’s Behavioral Health Division shall establish and operate one CIT in each district, to provide crisis intervention on a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week basis to persons who suffer from behavioral health challenges or mental health disorders and to provide crisis intervention training. The CIT shall work in conjunction with the support of CIT-trained law enforcement officers and must be district-based behavioral health teams, including licensed behavioral health professionals through the Division of Behavioral Health, or behavioral health teams embedded in Emergency Medical Services (EMS), including peers.
(b) The Crisis Intervention Teams shall collaborate with local first responder and behavioral health agencies and licensed behavioral health professionals and peers, to include police as co-responders in behavioral health teams, only as needed to respond in high-risk situations that cannot be managed without law enforcement.
(c) The Virgin Islands Police Department officers will respond to and address criminal activity being committed and maintain the public order and peace. However, CIT-trained law enforcement officers shall respond to behavioral episodes that disturb the public peace.
(d) Crisis Intervention Teams and crisis stabilization services provided must:(1) be designed in partnership with community members, including people with lived experience utilizing crisis services;(2) be staffed by personnel that reflect the demographics of the community served; and(3) collect customer service data from individuals served by demographic requirements, including race and ethnicity, set forth by SAMHSA and consistent with requirements for continuous evaluation and quality improvement.
(1) be designed in partnership with community members, including people with lived experience utilizing crisis services;
(2) be staffed by personnel that reflect the demographics of the community served; and
(3) collect customer service data from individuals served by demographic requirements, including race and ethnicity, set forth by SAMHSA and consistent with requirements for continuous evaluation and quality improvement.
(e) The Crisis Intervention Teams must be composed of qualified behavioral health professionals with training and experience in assessment and intervention with persons who suffer from behavioral health challenges, mental health disorders, and substance use disorders in a crisis. The team members must have a working knowledge of intake, case management, behavioral and mental health systems, and local resources.