Lawmakers want police to have more crisis training
By the Beloit Daily News
MADISON - Some state lawmakers want to make sure law enforcement agencies across Wisconsin have more funding for training directed at avoiding shootings and other crisis situations.
Rep. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, and Sen. Janis Ringhand, D-Evansville, have introduced a bill to fund week-long Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) programs, with many departments lacking crisis intervention and mental health training.
The bill would increase the amount of funding the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is required to allocate in grants for mental health training for agencies and correctional officers from $125,000 to $500,000 annually.
The bill was developed after multiple conversations with Beloit Police Chief David Zibolski on the issue, Spreitzer said.
"This bill will increase opportunities for law enforcement agencies across Wisconsin to participate in CIT programs, making our communities a better place to live, work and raise a family."
Spreitzer said the bill was an example of implementing a local idea that could have positive impact across the state.
"Our local police do an outstanding job and they deserve access to every tool available to help keep our communities safe," Ringhand said. "Crisis intervention training will help officers deal with those suffering from mental health issues and will increase safety for our officers and the entire community."
The Beloit Police Department participates in CIT classes, with an officer noting the benefit of the advanced training.
Beloit Police Officer Jamie Linder joined the department in 2010, and became interested in how mental health issues impact those the department serve in Beloit. Since then, Linder has become the department's liaison for all CIT training with the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI), and helps improve officer understanding of mental health needs to better understand the root of a possible complaint or situation involving law enforcement.
After responding to a call of a person in crisis, Linder saw how important it was to communicate slowly and thoughtfully with someone during a mental health episode. The man survived the incident without he or anyone else getting hurt.
"It was traumatic the first time we met him," Linder said.
But the memory of the intense call quickly faded. After a strong bond formed between Linder and the man, he specifically asked to work with Linder during his next mental health crisis.
"He said, 'I need officer Jamie because she understands me,'" Linder recalled. "This was the same guy who caused us to go over full lights and sirens. He calmly came out and told us he needed to go to the hospital. It shows what we can do when we slow down the situation and we take time to learn and listen...all of our training is about empowering officers through training."
Linder said the training helps slow situations down to let officers take time to "learn and listen."
Officers work to de-escalate a situation through conversation and mediation, rather than imposing their will. Age also impacts how officers handle a delicate emotional situation.
"It's all about helping people, and helping them through a mental health incident," she said. "A large majority of what we do is acting as a mediator and being a social worker. It's so important because if we can stop it at that level, we often don't need to make an arrest. We can usually curb that behavior and that's amazing to me. It's just so rewarding."
In terms of de-escalation training, the department sought input from citizens and students of Beloit College as part of a unique training opportunity for officers. Officers worked in role-playing situations of crisis and violent scenes as a way to learn how their presence impacts citizens. The training with Beloit College will take place later this fall, and was discussed in July at a national policing conference in Boston as being a way departments could work to boost community involvement.
The proposed bill is also endorsed by the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, and has also received bipartisan support from a co-sponsor, Andre Jacque, R-DePere, according to Spreitzer.