Crisis Intervention Behavioral Health Training

Senate Bill 29 - Impact on Law Enforcement

On October 3, 2015, Governor Brown, signed into law Senate Bill 29. In brief, the resulting laws mandate mental health training for Field Training Officers (FTO) and an increase in hours in Learning Domain 37 of the Regular Basic Course. This information is intended to facilitate an understanding of the new laws and how they will be implemented. Please refer to the California Penal Code (PC) for a full description of each law.

Field Training Officers shall have 8 hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training

PC 13515.28(a) (1)

Field Training Officers (FTO) will complete 8 hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training (CIT) as follows;

  • FTOs assigned or appointed on or before January 1, 2017 shall complete the training by June 30, 2017
  • FTOs assigned or appointed after January 1, 2017 shall complete the training within 180 days of assignment or appointment

FTOs are exempted if they have attended;

  • a 40 hour CIT course or
  • an 8 hour or more CIT course since October 3, 2013, that meets the criteria enumerated in PC13515.28(a)(1)

To assist agencies with PC 13515.28(a)(1), POST is offering the following resources and services;

  • An expanded course outline (ECO) (pdf) and hourly distribution (pdf) for a Mental Health Course that satisfies the 8 hour training requirement for FTOs. Agencies or training centers may utilize the ECO to deliver a course by certifying it through their Regional Consultant.
  • Mental health training course providers may request their course outline be reviewed by POST to ensure it meets the required criteria of PC 13515.28(a)(1). Please initiate this review through the appropriate POST Regional Consultant. If the course does not meet the criteria of SB 29, providers will be advised what to include in the course to satisfy the requirements.

Field Training Officers shall have 4 hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training as part of the Field Training Officer Course

PC 13515.29(a)

FTOs are required to have 4 hours of crisis intervention behavioral health training (in addition to the mandated 8 hours of training required by PC 13515.28 (a)(1) as part of the Field Training Officer Course. POST has utilized subject matter experts to incorporate the 4 hours of CIT training into the FTO course. The FTO course will remain at 40 hours.

Law Enforcement Agencies shall provide additional training in the Field Training Programs (FTP) or Police Training Programs (PTP) to better prepare law enforcement officers to effectively address incidents involving persons with a mental illness or intellectual disability.

PC 13515.295

In response to PC 13515.295, POST reviewed existing programs and developed an additional competency entitled “Address Issues Related to Stigma” that must be added to all Field Training and Police Training Programs.