<p>The history of mental health in the USA has guided officers to become the first-line response to mental health crisis calls. However, although officers’ interactions with individuals with a mental illness began to increase, there continued to be a limited amount of training that involved how to handle mental health–related issues. Consequently, this left officers unprepared to handle mental health situations and often led to negative interactions. As a result, Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs) were created and implemented in various police departments across the&#xa0;USA. CITs are community-based programs between local mental health professionals, police departments, and community members. CITs aim to improve officers’ interactions with individuals with a mental illness. The research study’s purpose is to review the literature on the effectiveness of CITs in police departments related to police officers’ mental health crisis readiness, use of force and arrest rates during mental health crisis interactions, and background influence to join their police department’s CIT. The findings on CIT’s effectiveness indicated a positive influence on officers’ mental health crisis readiness and arrest rates for individuals with a mental illness during officer interactions. However, little to no influence was found regarding the effects on officers’ use of force during interactions with individuals with a mental illness. Additionally, the findings suggest that officers’ backgrounds may have some influence on their decision to join their police department’s CIT. Nevertheless, although research has displayed positive findings, further research is needed to determine the overall effectiveness of CITs in police departments.</p>