The Fort Wayne Police Department Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Program (modeled after the original program in Memphis, Tennessee) was implemented on August 1, 2001 in order to provide an immediate response by trained law enforcement officers to deal with persons in the Fort Wayne community who are experiencing a mental health crisis. One goal established for the program was to divert persons with a mental illness from incarceration, and to treat the mental illness as the priority. As of January 1, 2019, the CIT program was expanded to require all officers to be trained in crisis intervention techniques. New officers are trained in their basic recruit classes and current officers have annual mandated training.