Dealing With Crisis Situations
The very last thing most municipal and county officials in West Virginia want to hear is a suggestion on a new way to spend money. After taking care of the basics of local government, few have surplus cash waiting for a purpose.
It is being suggested that Mountain State law enforcement agencies lack an important type of training, however. It is in how to handle people involved in mental health crises that could turn violent.
West Virginia is one of just three states (the others are Arkansas and Alabama) with no law enforcement agencies that have completed crisis intervention team training, The Associated Press reported this week.
CIT training focuses on recognizing signs of mental illness, coping with it to avoid violence, and using community resources to deal with it.
The fact so many law enforcement agencies in other states have made use of CIT training suggests it is a good thing. And obviously, being one of just a few states in which police and sheriffs’ departments do not have the training puts West Virginia under some pressure.
Should it?
Here in the Northern Panhandle, we know of several police and sheriffs’ departments that provide some training in crisis intervention. We also know of multiple situations that might have ended badly had officers or deputies not intervened effectively to defuse potentially dangerous confrontations with mentally ill people.
Clearly, many law enforcement personnel do very good, sometimes life-saving work with the mentally ill — and yes, that includes people under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
So suggestions the state is lacking because no law enforcement personnel here have undergone CIT training certainly merit discussion, but not necessarily a rush to spend big money to keep up with the states where it has been provided. Instead of listening to the think tanks and critics, perhaps we ought to just ask the cops themselves whether CIT training is more important, than, say, protective gear.
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