Published: April 07, 2007 11:31 pm      

Police training touted

The newly formed Laurel Highlands Region Police Crisis Intervention Team will hold a graduation ceremony at 3 p.m. April 20 at the Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center for 29 new members.

The specially trained personnel from 17 law-enforcement agencies in Cambria and Somerset counties will join seven others already on the team.

The graduation will take place at the end of a four-day, 40-hour training program that begins April 16.

Team members in the regionwide initiative are trained to more effectively de-escalate crisis situations involving people with mental illness, said Wendy Stewart, a member of the committee that formed the team.

The program is the first in Pennsylvania that adheres to the Memphis Police Department’s Crisis Intervention Team model, she said.

The Memphis team, created in 1988, established a standard of excellence and drew national recognition as a model in crisis intervention for police, Stewart said.

“The community support around the development of this program has been remarkable,” said Stewart, executive director of the Cambria County Affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

“There has been literally no resistance to the idea from the very beginning. And the process of gaining consensus about moving ahead has been almost effortless.”

Over the past six months, a committee comprised of the Johnstown, Richland Township and West Hills Regional police departments, Cambria County Mental Health-Mental Retardation, NAMI in Cambria County and the behavioral health department at Memorial Medical Center have worked to establish the program.

Stewart said officers are trained to defuse potentially volatile situations and intervene more effectively with people with a mental illness. They aim to divert them away from the criminal justice system and into treatment, where they are more likely to receive the help they need.

Johnstown police Chief Craig Foust said, with two of his officers already trained in crisis intervention, his department has seen firsthand its success.

“In situations where a person would be out of control and might be forced into perhaps a physical confrontation and an arrest, those officers have been able to come to the scene, de-escalate the situation, talk and really put into practice what they’ve learned.”

West Hills police Chief Andy Havas likewise says the program is a fine one.

“What this will do is give the officer a lot better view of what the mental health patient is going through during a crisis,” he said.

The officers are trained to de-escalate the incident so it has a peaceful resolution.

Three of his officers already are on the team. Havas said additional officers from his and other departments will receive training in the future.