The 2011 CIT Conference was  held in Raleigh, North Carolina at the McKimmon Center, Raleigh, on Friday, February the 11th. We were honored to have Major Sam Cochran as the keynote speaker/ Major Cohcran was the coordinator for the Memphis Crisis Intervention Team, and a police officer for over 28 years.

In addition to his nationally recognized work with the CIT program, Major Cochran coordinated the Hostage Negotiation Team and the Critical Incident Services (CIS) for the Memphis Police Department. As a law enforcement officer, Major Cochran served in uniform patrol, the investigative division and had been an instructor at the training academy.

Major Cochran is nationally known for his work in the field of crisis intervention and is presently doing CIT consulting work for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) across the country. In addition to receiving the City University of New York (CUNY) John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement News Person of the Year Award (2000), NAMI has named their annual law enforcement advocacy award after Major Cochran. He has worked with police departments throughout the nation as well as departments in Canada , Australia , and England .