Lucas County law enforcement trains on crisis intervention - WTVG
Throughout this week, 25 officers from 13 different departments attended the Lucas County Crisis Intervention Team's week-long training.
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Throughout this week, 25 officers from 13 different departments attended the Lucas County Crisis Intervention Team’s week-long training. The training helps law enforcement prepare and learn how to manage situations when dealing with individuals who may suffer from mental health problems.
Robert Kasprzak works as the coordinator for the Lucas County C.I.T. he says his goal is to help officers learn techniques and to find resources to help get them better fitted for handling situations that they may run into.
“We want to redirect people who have one of those conditions and get them to the right place,” he said. “Because taking people to jail because they have a mental illness or developmental disability is not the right place for them.”
Chief of the Oregon Police Department, Brandon Begin, says about 70% of his department is C.I.T trained, he hopes to bring that up to 100% by next year.
“Things have changed over the years, and we’re trying to do the best we can for the community.” He said. “We know that there are a lot of mental health issues in the community, and we want to be prepared for those.”
For the final day, the trainees were put to the test, as volunteers from Harbor, a mental health and substance disorder treatment organization, gave the officers a taste of what to expect when dealing with these situations.
“They come out here and they do these role plays, and they’re really acting out real-life situations.” Kasprzak said. “And they’re having the officers come up and demonstrate their skills.”
Linsey Bishop has worked for harbor for over a year now, she says the training is the closest thing officers can have to real-life situations.
“The goal is for them to walk out feeling like they have a little bit of a handle on what it is going to be like or some idea. Some people, unless you work with the mental health population you really don’t know what it is going to be like until it happens.”
She says training like this can seem silly at times, but it can make all the difference.
“People are struggling and suffering right now. Mental health is at an all-time high. It is very good for them to be able to find resources in a community, especially in a situation where they need somebody to be in response.”
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source: https://www.13abc.com/2022/04/09/lucas-county-law-enforcement-trains-crisis-intervention/
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