Area Officers get specific training for those with mental illnesses

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Local law enforcement officers are getting a different kind of training this week.

The six-county service area is offering the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Academy at the Muskingum County Emergency Management Agency.

The goal of the academy is to provide training to better equip officers to respond to individuals with mental illnesses.

Paul Quinn, the President of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) 6-county, said he hopes this can deescalate crisis situations especially during a time when law enforcement is under such public scrutiny.

“We’ve been having people come in and explaining the various illnesses and some of the characteristics of those,” said Quinn. “As the week progresses we’ll be doing role playing where they can practice some different techniques that we’ll be teaching them.”

NAMI’s interest in this program is for the benefit of the mentally ill. That by teaching the officers some of the characteristics and tools they can use to respond, arrest situations can be avoided and the individual can seek treatment.

Trooper Samuel Hendricks, Zanesville Highway Patrol, explained how this will be beneficial in the field.

“With this training we can get people that help if we feel it’s more of a mental health issue,” Hendricks said. “I wish I would’ve had this training, I’ve been on 16 years and I’ve been at 3 different posts and this is the first time that I’ve ever been offered this training so it’s been wonderful.”

This is the 15th year of the academy, and over 200 officers in the area have graduated from the program.