The Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) program is a community partnership working with community services, mental health consumers and family members. Our goal is to set a standard of excellence for our officers with respect to treatment of individuals with mental illness by establishing rapport with consumers and taking on individual responsibility for each event and an overall accountability for the results. Our officers will be provided with the best quality training available, they will be part of a specialized team which can respond to a crisis at any time and they will work with the community and its resources to resolve each situation in a manner that shows concern for the citizen’s well-being.
Sergeant Tim Adams is a seasoned police officer with over (44) years of law enforcement experience. Sergeant Adams is the Miami-Dade County Crisis Intervention Team Coordinator for the Miami Gardens Police Department and has held the position since the inception of the Department in 2007. Sergeant Adams is a veteran of the Vietnam War and law enforcement professional who understands the principles of mental health interventions for veterans and citizens within our community.
Sergeant Adams supports the crisis intervention mission of developing community partnerships in providing professional mental health services to the community along with established training standards of excellence for our police officers.
Sergeant Adams attended quarterly meetings with the CIT Advisory Committee to address concerns and improve law enforcement strategies and procedures relating to the Baker and Marchman Acts. Sergeant Adams on his own initiative attended meetings with the mental health staff at Jackson North Medical Center to address and improve procedures relating to geriatric interventions. He also attended meetings at the Juvenile Assessment Center to address and improve procedures relating to juvenile mental health interventions. Sergeant Adams further attended meetings with the mental health staff at the Veterans Hospital to address and develop appropriate procedures in dealing with homeless veterans and veterans suffering Post Traumatic Stress disorders. He demonstrates compassion for individuals and families who are in crisis and is pro-active in helping homeless veterans and veterans in crisis find appropriate resources.
Sergeant Adams is an advocate for appropriate training keeping command staff and officers well-informed about new laws and crisis intervention procedures and updates through roll call training and emails notifications. He also was instrumental in developing and revising standard operating police procedures to improve mental health and crisis intervention services. When Sergeant Adams was not on duty, he was always available by telephone to answer questions and give guidance to our officers about Baker and Marchman Acts procedures.
Sergeant Adams is very knowledgeable in SWAT (Special Weapons & Tactics) operations and has successfully supervised and handled many Baker Act crisis situations without the use of force during his patrol tours of duty. In January 2014, Sergeant Adams and other officers received a commendation from Chief Matthew Boyd for their courageous lifesaving actions during an attempted suicide intervention under MGPD case number 2013-021133.
