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Law Officers Receiving Crisis Intervention Team Training
May 17, 2005 (Note to Media: If you would like to shoot footage or get interviews, please coordinate with Ann Arnall. She is with the training all this week and will return her cell phone messages) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FORT MYERS, Fla. (May 17, 2005) - All this week (of May 16), about 25 local law enforcement officers will attend a 40-hour training in Crisis Intervention for people with mental illnesses. The training includes experiential activities such as site visits to local mental health treatment facilities and interaction with persons who have mental illnesses and their family members. It's all part of planning efforts that began in January 2004 to implement Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) for law enforcement officers in Lee County. The majority of officers attending the training are from the City of Fort Myers Police Department. Representatives from the Port Authority Police and the Florida Gulf Coast University Police Departments also will attend. Crisis Intervention Teams are made up of uniform patrol officers who volunteer and are selected for training. The training teaches officers about mental illnesses, the local service delivery system, and effective ways to de-escalate a person experiencing a crisis due to a mental illness. Crisis Intervention Teams are proven to promote better public safety by reducing injuries to both law enforcement officers and citizens when responding to calls involving a person with a mental illness. Additionally, such programs focus on the person receiving treatment rather than entering the criminal justice system. The Crisis Intervention Team Training is a collaborative effort between local law enforcement, Lee County Board of County Commissioners, the State of Florida Department of Children and Families Substance Abuse and Mental Health Program Office, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Lee County Inc., the Lee Mental Health Center d.b.a. the Ruth Cooper Center, and Southwest Florida Addiction Services. Several local psychiatrists and other mental health professionals have donated their expertise and time to this project. |