Eleven officers from the Jackson Police Department attended and graduated from the Crisis Intervention Team Training on March 10, 2017.
The Crisis Intervention Team is a joint effort between several agencies in Jackson and Madison County to include The Madison County Sherriff’s Department, the Jackson Police Department, Pathways, and Jackson Madison County General Hospital. The purpose is to train police officers in recognition and proper handling of people with mental illness.
At the Jackson Police Department the Crisis Intervention Team is made up of officers from each division of the Department. C.I.T. officers have received specialized training with regard to mental disturbance type events.
C.I.T. officers currently respond to regular police service calls, in addition to mental disturbance crisis events.
On all police service calls involving mentally ill individuals in a disturbance/crisis event, the dispatcher will do everything possible to dispatch the nearest available C.I.T. car(s), along with necessary police patrol cars. In addition to these duties the Sheriff’s Department transports individuals to facilities in West Tennessee for treatment.
The training is very intensive and consists of 40 hours of training that includes: recognition of signs and symptoms of mental illness, assessing the scene, behaviors that the officer should and should not display when dealing with the mentally ill, de-escalation techniques and proper handling once the disposition is determined.
The officers spend time with individuals who suffer from mental illness, those who are developmentally delayed, as well as those suffering with PTSD during the course of the week to gain a better understanding of the mental processes involved with their respective illnesses.
This training session consisted of 28 people from the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, the Jackson Police Department, Jackson Madison County General Hospital Security and Tennessee Correctional Services.
In addition to their certificate officers who completed this training are awarded with a pin that they wear on their uniform to indicate that they have successfully completed the training.
