The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is hosting a 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) certification program for police officers this December. This is the fourth time in 2016 the Lake County Sheriff’s Office will be hosting this certification training program.
The week-long certification class consists of classroom learning and scenario based exercises. Topics covered include mental health signs and symptoms, geriatric issues, returning combat veterans (traumatic brain injury and PTSD) response, child and adolescent disorders, co-occurring disorders, autism spectrum disorder, excited delirium, medical conditions and psychotropic medications, risk assessment and law enforcement response, as well as legal issues.
In October of 2016, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office learned of being awarded the Federal Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program Grant, totaling $250,000.00. This grant will be used to vastly expand the public sector’s training and response to mental health incidents in Lake County.
With this grant, the Lake County Crisis Intervention Team program will continue to coordinate a consistent training and response model for law enforcement, which is specific to mental health responses throughout Lake County, to aid persons in crisis. This will allow CIT Officers to receive specialized training to help them evaluate various mental health crisis incidents stemming from a variety of mental health conditions.
Undersheriff Ray Rose said, “CIT training is absolutely instrumental for police officers not just across Lake County, but across the United States. The grant we received is going to have a substantial positive impact on the training of law enforcement, thus providing enhanced service to those we serve throughout Lake County. There is no doubt Lake County will see the positive results from this countywide initiative.”
Sheriff Mark Curran said, “You’ll continue to see the Lake County Sheriff’s Office leading the charge on this important training in the months and years to come. I’ve said many times that proper training and response to a person in mental crisis is imperative for police officers and first-responders.”
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is not only training highway patrol deputies as CIT members, but also training dispatchers, correctional officers, detectives, court security officers, warrants deputies, and civil process deputies. The sheriff’s office will also be implementing training for all civilian personnel who interact with members of the community.