Mental Health

Commitals

Involuntary committals for Mental Illness (Iowa Code 229 (PDF)) or Substance Abuse (Iowa Code 125 (PDF)) are filed at the County Clerk of Court - Civil Department in the county in which the subject resides. A committal must be filed by two people, both over the age of 18, that have firsthand knowledge that the subject is a harm to themselves or others. If the committal is approved by a Judge, the Sheriff's Office will attempt to locate the subject and transport them to a local hospital, as directed in the court order.

Crisis Intervention Training (CIT)

To help better serve the residents of Linn County, Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) has been provided to all Linn County Sheriff's Deputies, Communications Operators, Female Correctional Officers, and Correctional Nurses. CIT was developed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1988 and has been shown to improve law enforcement's ability to recognize symptoms of a mental health crisis, enhance their confidence in addressing such an emergency, and reduce inaccurate beliefs about mental illness. It has been found that after completing CIT orientation, peace officers felt encouraged to interact with people suffering a mental health crisis and to delay their "rush to resolution". CIT was also identified in the Final Report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing as being critical in enabling law enforcement officers to improve the way in which they and the community respond to people experiencing mental health crisis.