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Last week 40 officers from our area were certified in Memphis Model Crisis Intervention Training. This training better prepares officers to respond to incidents with a mental health component. The challenges of mental illness can be very complex and difficult to recognize. Officers who attend this training learn about many forms of major mental illness, and also learn how to better respond. The course focuses on de-escalation of crises as well as ensuring there is follow up care after the crisis has passed. With an emphasis on problem-solving and connecting people with resources they need, it is hoped that this results in better long-term care, and better outcomes for those suffering from mental illness in our community.

The Green Bay Police Department is proud to be a leader when it comes to responding to those with mental illness in our area. Our agency currently has many officers who have achieved CIT certification. This past week, 19 of the 40 officers attending this course were from the Green Bay Police Department, bringing our total number of active CIT certified officers to 64, or about 1/3 of our sworn officers.

CIT training, like any other week long training course, is very expensive for any law enforcement agency. Pulling officers from their patrol duties to attend training like this often requires their agency to pay other officers overtime in order to cover patrol duties for the officer who is attending training. In the era of expenditure restraint programs, most municipal agencies do not have available budget dollars to cover this expense. We are therefore very grateful to community partners who sponsored the training this past week. Without donations and sponsorships from the National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI Brown County), Connections for Mental Wellness, and Willow Creek Behavioral Health, we would not have been able to train these officers.

Captain Jeremy Muraski, who supervises the department’s Mental Health Officers said, “The Green Bay Police Department is committed to improving our response to mental illness in our community. We continue to look for grant funding and training opportunities like this for our officers. Our goals are to de-criminalize mental illness, connect those who suffer from it with needed resources, and improve everyone’s quality of life. If we can do that, everybody benefits.”

The Green Bay Police Department is also partnering with Brown County Human Services to deploy an Officer/Clinician Team. By having a professional clinician embedded with the Mental Health Officers, it is hoped that our response to mental illness and connecting people with needed services will be much more streamlined and effective. Brown County is currently in the process of hiring a clinician to fill that role and it is hoped that the team will be up and running this spring.

Capt. Jeremy Muraski
920-448-3200 ext. 0911