Six Alexandria sheriff’s deputies have graduated from the city’s first crisis intervention team’s training academy after 40 hours of instruction in recognizing and handling mental illness.
The crisis intervention training program is a collaborative effort among the city’s department of mental health, police department and sheriff’s office. The deputies learned to recognize psychiatric disorders and problems that result from substance abuse so they could be better prepared to handle emergency situations with someone in crisis.
Recommended Stories
“Since law enforcement officers are often the first responders in these incidents, it is essential that they understand how mental illness can alter people’s behaviors and perceptions,” said Harry Covert, a sheriff’s office spokesman. “The trained CIT deputy is skilled at de-escalating crisis involving people with mental illness.”
The CIT model was developed by the Memphis, Tenn., police department in 1988 following a police shooting of a mentally ill person. It has since been employed by departments across the country. Alexandria has included it among several programs the city is employing to divert the mentally ill from the criminal justice system and into the treatment system.
Lt. John Kapetanis, and Deputies Stephen Mackey, George Gray, Robert Rowland, James Gualtney and Larry Richardson were trained in suicide intervention, verbal de-escalation techniques, the role of the family in the care of a person with mental illness, and legal training in mental and substance abuse issues. In addition to classroom instruction, they participated in role-playing exercises and spent a day visiting mental health and substance abuse treatment facilities.
mailto:[email protected] “>[email protected]
