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Howell County Sheriff’s Office completes 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team training

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The Howell County Sheriff’s Office recently concluded a 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team training that focused on deescalation techniques when a potential mental health crisis is identified.

The team training was held at the West Plains Police Department and instructed by various professionals from area law enforcement agencies, courts, Ozarks Healthcare Behavioral Health Center and other community stakeholders with a wealth of experience and knowledge to impart.

Howell County Sheriff Brent Campbell said officers trained from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the course of five consecutive Wednesdays, ending June 15.

Officers and course participants received training on topics including hospital/court procedures, medications, deescalation, autism spectrum disorder, veteran’s issues, community resources and suicide prevention and intervention.

Attendees also had the opportunity to discuss crisis situations with people who described their personal experiences and interactions with law enforcement.

The training in West Plains was coordinated by Michael Lewis, community behavioral health liaison for the Mid-South Region, and Perry County Detective Jason Klaus, Missouri Crisis Intervention Team coordinator.

Police are often the first called for a crisis situation involving people with mental illness. These crisis situations can and have involved officer and citizen injury or deaths, Lewis notes, explaining that Crisis Intervention Team training significantly decreases injuries, death and community disagreement.

In turn, Lewis adds, people with mental illness are diverted to the mental health system and treatment rather than to a jail or to return to the streets.

“Citizens become more confident in reporting crisis situations and police officers are better prepared to respond safely to those situations,” Lewis said. “Crisis intervention shifts from lose-lose to win-win.”

The attendees concluded the final day of training with practical scenarios to use techniques learned through the course. Upon completion of the training, the officers were presented with a Crisis Intervention Team lapel pin that can be worn on their uniforms to alert citizens that they have been trained to assist people in crisis.

The Texas County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, West Plains Police Department, employees from Christos House, probation and parole office and troopers from Missouri State Highway Patrol in Willow Springs participated in the 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team training.

The Howell county portion of the Crisis Intervention Team council will meet monthly to discuss people in Howell, Shannon and Oregon counties in need of crisis intervention resources and plan for ways to assist them. Chief Stephen Monticelli of West Plains Police Department is the host of each meeting.

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