Officers complete intervention training
Police officers from around Ulster County celebrated the completion of 40 hours of crisis intervention training Friday at the Ulster County Law Enforcement Center.
The graduation of 28 officers at the center at 380 Boulevard included 14 city of Kingston officers, Ulster County sheriff’s deputies and municipal police officers from Saugerties, New Paltz and the town of Ulster, according to Kingston Police Detective Lt. Thierry Croizer. All of the graduates had completed a fiveday, 40-hour course.
The ceremony was attended by Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti, Kingston Mayor Steve Noble and Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra.
“One of the reasons crisis intervention training is successful is that it connects officers with a team of clinicians and fellow officers who can advise, problem-solve and support them when a challenging situation occurs,” Croizer wrote in a email.
He said the training includes learning directly from mental health professionals and officers with experience in the community and personal interactions with people who have experienced and recovered from mental health crises in their families and have cared for loved ones with a mental illness.
Members of the local chapter of NAMI-Mid Hudson, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, presented the training along with officers and professionals, “providing officers a first-hand opportunity to hear stories of recovery, ask questions and members who have cared for loved ones with mental illness.
“NAMI says it more eloquently (on its website),” Croizer wrote, quoting the site. “A Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training program is a model for community policing that brings together law enforcement, mental health providers, hospital emergency departments and individuals with mental illness and their families to improve responses to people in crisis. CIT programs enhance communication, identify mental health resources for assisting people in crisis and ensure that officers get the training and support that they need.”
Among the skills taught to participating officers, Croizer said, are verbal de-escalation through the use of body language and words.
“With the help of volunteers or actors, officers practice their skills in common crisis situations, and get immediate feedback from instructors and classmates,” he said, adding that the course is designed to teach officers to aid individuals in crisis and use resources already available in the communities they serve.
Funding for this course was provided by a New York state grant, Croizer said.