Officers Learn About Mental Illness, Addiction with Zanesville Training

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – 24 law enforcement officers from Muskingum County and surrounding areas are taking part this week in the Crisis Intervention Team Academy at the Mental Health Board.

Officers will learn about how to answer to calls involving people who suffer from mental illnesses and opioid addiction. President of the local National Alliance on Mental Illness branch Paul Quinn says the way an officer responds to one of these calls could be life saving.

“The CIT Academy here is the 14th year for it and we have 24 officers who will – this week – learn about mental illness and addiction and techniques for deescalating crisis situations. And we’ll do some role playing as part of that so that they can get in the habit of talking differently with people with some special needs.”

Each officer who finishes the training will leave with a CIT pin that they can wear on the lapel of the uniform and knowledge that will help them for years to come.

“We had one officer in here a couple of years ago right in the front row and he told me he objected to having to sit through this — he’s not a social worker and it’s not his job to diagnose anybody — but by the end of the week he said that it was the most valuable program he’d had in some years. And I saw him a couple of months later and he went on at length — told me about how helpful the training has been to him. So we know it’s making a difference out there.”

Quinn says his brother suffers from a mental illness and has had the police called on him several times. Officers with CIT training have not only helped his brother but the general public.

“Educated officers come out and end up speaking to the people who call to assure them that there’s nothing wrong. He’s a normal person, not breaking the law, but thank God the officers recognize this.”

The training course runs this week from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.