Raytown Officer Honored as 2016 CIT Officer of the Year

On November 17th, 2016, the Mid-America Crisis Intervention Team Council hosted their annual awards ceremony at the Kansas City Police Academy. Raytown Officer Evan Hartenstein was honored as "2016 Officer of the Year."

Ofc. Hartenstein has been the Unit Commander for the Crisis Intervention Team since February 2016. Currently, we have 17 officers who are CIT trained. An additional six members of the department will be attending a basic CIT class in December, and our goal is to eventually have every officer and detention technician attend this training.

Raytown PD has had trained officers in crisis intervention since at least 2006. CIT officers are specially trained to respond to potentially dangerous emergencies involving people who are exhibiting serious psychiatric conditions or crises. All CIT officers complete a forty-hour basic CIT class, with some completing Advanced CIT, Youth CIT, or CIT in regard to Veterans. CIT officers strive to provide appropriate response and service referral, instead of criminal incarceration, which is often ineffective and does little to help the individual.