Eastern Iowa law officers training for times of crisis

CEDAR RAPIDS - As a deputy and paramedic on the Linn County Sheriff Office's rescue unit, Jacob Sharpe looks at a mental health crisis call from two angles.

'Dealing with someone (experiencing a mental health crisis) as a law enforcement officer and in this volatile situation where public safety is at risk and officer safety is an issue, you've got to think of them as a potential risk,” said Sharpe, a five-year employee of the department. 'But you've also got to turn that page and think of them as a patient as well.”

In Sharpe's career in law enforcement, mental health calls have been 'some of the most volatile calls I have encountered,” he said. Many mental health issues are made worse - and potentially more dangerous - by substance abuse.

That's why Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner is following the lead of his Johnson County law enforcement colleagues and sending Sharpe and two other deputies to crisis intervention training in San Antonio, Texas, next month. The three deputies will be joining a delegation of Johnson County-based authorities also are undergoing the 40-hour training.

Some officers from the Johnson County Sheriff's Office, Iowa City, Coralville, University of Iowa and North Liberty police departments already have attended the training. It teaches participants how to recognize when someone is having a mental health issue or other crisis - and techniques to de-escalate the situation to resolve it peacefully.

'Cops are used to arriving on scene, taking charge of the scene, quickly resolving the issue and then moving on to the next concern,” Gardner said. 'With a person in crisis, it doesn't work that way. Oftentimes, you can't rationalize with a person who is truly in crisis. This training will explain that to the deputies and then train them how to deal with the situation at hand.”

Gardner said many of the incidents nationwide between police and the public that have led to outcry included people in crisis situations. He acknowledged that even police get 'panicky” and don't always handle the situations well.

'Crisis intervention training puts a brake on that,” he said.

When the three deputies return from the training, which takes place Nov. 14-18, Gardner will have a deputy in the patrol, jail and civil divisions trained in crisis intervention. However, the plan is to have those three deputies offer training to the rest of the sheriff's staff, he said.

Local law enforcement has been traveling to San Antonio periodically since May 2015, when two Johnson County Sheriff's Office deputies, a Johnson County major and captain, a Coralville police officer and Jessica Peckover, Johnson County's jail alternatives coordinator, attended a free training session.

Since then, more officers and Johnson County officials - including police chiefs and city managers - have attended the training. Now, officials are hoping to recreate the San Antonio model.

In addition to training officers in crisis intervention, San Antonio is home to a campus dedicated to serving those suffering from substance abuse, mental health and homelessness issues.

The Restoration Center there includes sobering, detoxification and mental health units. Across the street from the Restoration Center is Haven for Hope, a homeless shelter that offers education and employment services.

Law enforcement officials in Johnson County will begin hosting local crisis intervention training in March. The idea is to host training three times a year for police, firefighters and medical officials such as EMTs and paramedics.

'Hopefully, between the multiple training efforts, we'll be able to get whatever agencies and officers that are interested some access to training,” Peckover said.

Officials are in the planning stages of building a resource center to help people who are intoxicated, having a mental health crisis or in need of shelter. At a meeting in May, a scenario was discussed that would see the purchase and renovation of a former office building. Startup costs were estimated at $7 million and annual operating costs for the 24-hour facility at $5.5 million - figures that caused some to balk.

Peckover said municipalities in Johnson County support the project and want to make a contribution. However, officials are waiting to see what kind of contribution the University of Iowa could make to support the project.

Officials involved in the project are in the process of hiring an architecture firm to help determine space needs.

Gardner, who has expressed concerns about the number of people in his jail who would be better-suited for a mental health facility instead, said he wants to see how things develop in Johnson County before proposing any such facility in Linn County.

'I want to see what works for Johnson County or see if they want to do something regionally or just locally. ... It may not be necessary for us to recreate the wheel up here,” he said.

The sheriff's office is not the only agency in Linn County to explore crisis intervention training for officers. In 2015, two Cedar Rapids police sergeants attended training with the Montgomery County, Md., Police Department - Chief Wayne Jerman's former department.

'I was very familiar with the Montgomery County program,” Jerman said. 'That was one of the areas that was under my command when I was a bureau chief there. It's a nationally recognized program. They visit mental health facilities and interact and speak with mental health patients.”

Those two sergeants also have attended conference and classes on crisis intervention training, including a 28-hour conference in St. Louis this year, Jerman said. All officers have received state-mandated training on mental health.

Jerman said the sergeants have been charged with acquiring 'the information, knowledge and expertise to formulate a (CIT) program here.”

'That's in the planning stages to provide training to core groups of officers so every shift will have a complement of CIT-certified officers to address this increasing need,” he said.

Jerman said police recruits at the Cedar Rapids law enforcement academy receive eight hours of training in mental health first aid, two hours of crisis intervention overview and two hours of agitated chaotic events training.

'There are numerous people who live in the city that are in need of mental health care and, for a variety of reasons, they're not receiving it,” he said. 'What ultimately happens, the first responders - the police - are the first point of contact for these individuals who are in crisis. Part of sending these officers to get the crisis intervention training and deliver it to the other officers is so they have a higher level of training to be able to interact and resolve these calls.”