Area law officers learn to help people with mental handicaps

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Local law enforcement officers are receiving additional training in handling crisis situations.

A Crisis Intervention Team is training all six-counties’ law enforcement agencies, in the area, on how to handle situations involving someone who is mentally handicapped. The President of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) six-county Paul Quinn said this week-long training show officers how to access and handle each situation.

“What we emphasize is if it’s not a crisis, if there are not lives at stake, take a minute. Talk to the individual. They are a person. They’re just in a bad situation,” said Quinn. “Look below the surface; something put them in this situation where you got called as an officer. What led up to that?”

Throughout the week, there will be 40 hours worth of training including learning from mental health professionals and experienced officers in the community. Verbal De-escalation skills will also be taught during the training.

“We try and teach them some of the key things like De-escalation techniques. Good active listening skills, paraphrasing back what they’ve heard to try and make sure that we are on the same page and talking clear lines of communication,” said Muskingum County Sheriff’s Office Captain Jeff LeCocq. “Allowing sometimes it’s a matter of just allowing a person to vent, will help bring a person down and just allow that person to realize we do hear what they’ve saying and hear their frustrations.”

More than 200 officers in the region have graduated from the CIT program in the 16 years this training has been going on.