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The Janesville Police Department was recently awarded an Innovative Program Award from the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group. The award was in recognition of the department’s Mental Health Awareness Flag program.

Similar to the Medical Alert bracelet concept, the Mental Health Awareness Flag (MHAF) was developed to alert an officer of a potential mental illness prior to contact with an individual. The MHAF is a visual indicator in the Rock County law enforcement records management system that alerts an officer if an individual may have symptoms of a mental illness. The flag on the person’s record provides law enforcement additional information that helps them respond appropriately while maximizing safety for the individual, the officer, and the community.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), forty-seven million people in the United States suffer from a mental illness each year. There are over two-million jail bookings every year involving individuals with a mental illness and twenty-five percent of fatal law enforcement shootings involve a person with a mental illness. Police are often the first to respond to a person experiencing a mental health crisis; and as such, the need existed to reassess how officers respond and interact with those individuals to better address their needs.

Janesville officers Craig Klementz and Alexander Erlien developed the idea for the flag. The concept was submitted to the Rock County Evidence Based Decision Making Behavioral Workgroup. The workgroup, consisting of representatives from Rock County law enforcement, Human Services, NAMI, Corporation Council, Public Defenders Office, and the District Attorney’s Office, provided input into the further development of the Mental Health Awareness Flag. The collaborative program was implemented within a year and has been adopted by all Rock County Law Enforcement agencies.

The department thanks the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group for the recognition of this innovative program and its significance in keeping our community and citizens safe.

Pictured in Photo L to R: Sergeant Brian Vaughn, Officer Craig Klementz, and Lieutenant Mike Blaser Jr.