Colorado framework explainer
Colorado Crisis Response and Intervention Training (CRIT), Explained
Colorado CRIT, or Crisis Response and Intervention Training, is a Colorado state program that prepares law enforcement officers and dispatchers to handle behavioral-health and mental-health crisis calls. It adapts the crisis intervention team approach to Colorado's resources and expectations, emphasizing de-escalation, recognizing crisis, and connecting people to care.
What Colorado CRIT is
Colorado CRIT is a public, state-level crisis-response training program for Colorado law enforcement and dispatchers, administered through the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice. Like the national crisis intervention team model, it prepares officers to recognize a mental-health or behavioral-health crisis, de-escalate it, and connect the person to care rather than to the justice system, with content shaped to Colorado's resources and partners.
This page is an explainer. CodeBlu credits Colorado CRIT and the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice for their public work. CodeBlu is not partnered with, certified by, or endorsed by Colorado CRIT, the Division of Criminal Justice, the State of Colorado, or any other organization. Colorado practitioner communities such as CITAC operate within this same CIT landscape; CodeBlu has no affiliation with them.
How CRIT relates to CIT
CRIT is Colorado's version of crisis-response training in the crisis intervention team tradition, in effect the Colorado CIT program. CIT is the broad national model; CRIT is the Colorado-specific program built in that tradition. If you want the model itself, start with our explainer on crisis intervention team (CIT) training.
How CodeBlu's Colorado-aligned content fits
CodeBlu is a Colorado-built training product, and its content is designed to align with the CIT and CRIT crisis-response practice that Colorado agencies work within. CodeBlu is not a CRIT course or a certification. It is a way for officers to rehearse the skills this kind of training builds: they talk through realistic crisis scenarios by voice with a conversational AI, then get a per-competency after-action review.
See how that works in police mental health crisis response training and police de-escalation training, or try the demo.
Colorado POST Rule 28 and C.R.S. 24-31-315
Crisis intervention and mental-health awareness are non-perishable topics that can count toward the discretionary 12 hours of the Colorado P.O.S.T. Rule 28 annual 24, and crisis-response training like CRIT addresses the de-escalation requirement in C.R.S. 24-31-315. Eligibility is the chief or sheriff's decision. CodeBlu provides training and records but does not submit to POST.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Colorado CRIT (Crisis Response and Intervention Training)?
- Colorado CRIT, or Crisis Response and Intervention Training, is a Colorado state program that prepares law enforcement officers and dispatchers to handle behavioral-health and mental-health crisis calls. It adapts the crisis intervention team approach to Colorado's resources and expectations, emphasizing de-escalation, recognizing crisis, and connecting people to care.
- How does CRIT relate to CIT?
- CRIT is Colorado's state-level crisis-response training. It builds on the national crisis intervention team (CIT) model and the Memphis Model that most United States programs follow, then tailors the approach to Colorado's resources, partners, and expectations. CIT is the broad model; CRIT is the Colorado-specific program in that tradition.
- Does crisis training count toward Colorado POST Rule 28 or C.R.S. 24-31-315?
- Crisis intervention and mental-health awareness are non-perishable topics that can count toward the discretionary 12 hours of the Colorado P.O.S.T. Rule 28 annual 24, and crisis-response training like CRIT addresses the de-escalation requirement in C.R.S. 24-31-315. Eligibility is the chief or sheriff's decision. CodeBlu provides training and records but does not submit to POST.
- Is CodeBlu affiliated with Colorado CRIT or the state?
- No. This is an explainer. CodeBlu credits Colorado CRIT and the Colorado Division of Criminal Justice for their public work, but CodeBlu is not partnered with, certified by, or endorsed by Colorado CRIT, the Division of Criminal Justice, the State of Colorado, or any other organization.
Built in Colorado, for Colorado agencies
Try the demo scenario, or read how CodeBlu trains the mental-health crisis skills this training covers.