The Phoenix Police Department is in the process of training a new crisis-intervention squad to handle mental health related calls. In Phoenix alone, there are over 4,000 court-ordered pickups for officers each year. The goal of the 7 officer squad is to improve the way police officers interact with mentally ill individuals, and to reduce the number of violent encounters that occur between them. The death of Phoenix resident Michelle Cusseaux, who was shot last year by officers during an ordered mental-health pickup, is what prompted the creation of the team.
Phoenix Police Commander Michael Kurtenback says, “We recognize that law enforcement is oftentimes ill-equipped to handle such a crisis unless we’re given the tools in the training to try and mitigate the situation. The last thing we want to do is criminalize mental health.”
Phoenix Police Commander Matt Giordano, who will be on the mental health squad, explains, “It is our job to maintain calmness, and that will translate to the person in crisis and help them remain calm. Sometimes it is a lengthy process- not going to be quick- going to take time to establish a rapport to get the situation calm, which will allow us to safely take the person into custody and get them the help they are going to need.”
The mental health squad members are currently undergoing extensive training, and will continue to receive ongoing training. The team should be up and running by the end of May.
There have already been too many tragedies involving mentally ill individuals and the police. Mentally ill individuals in a crisis do not have full control of their mental faculties, and may act without understanding the full consequences of their actions. Hopefully, this new crisis intervention team will be able to diffuse tense situations and prevent mentally ill individuals from acting in a way that may affect their future.
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