Abstract:The criminalization of people with mental illness underlies many aspects of policing in current society. As law enforcement officers serve as gatekeepers between people with mental illness and the criminal justice system, they are a primary target for interventions to reduce criminalization. Officers have a unique potential to divert people with mental illness to community resources. Crisis intervention training (CIT) is a valuable resource to aid officers in this goal. Research has demonstrated that CIT training effectively influences officers’ attitudes towards mental illness. Disorder-specific attitudes present an understudied area in research but could aid in bettering interactions between people with mental illness and the criminal legal system. The current study compares police officers’ attitudes towards mental illness before and after CIT intervention and assesses disorder-specific attitudes regarding autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study was conducted using archival and original data collection. The first study was conducted via archival data analysis from a nationwide sample of U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) law enforcement officers analyzing the role of CIT on attitudes towards mental illness. The second study was conducted via original data collection from a nationwide organization with current and former law enforcement officers. The data from Study 1 were analyzed by comparing pre- and post-test results, and the data from Study 2 were analyzed by comparing the inclusion of diagnostic criteria and the role of gender. It was found that CIT improved officer attitudes towards mental illness. No differences were found between attitudes when information received about ASD or gender of respondent were analyzed. The results speak to the efficacy of CIT and the role of knowledge for both general and disorder-specific attitudes.