UCF police officers know the value of crisis intervention training, especially during the time around the university’s finals.

Student incidents increase at semester’s start, exam times

Sgt. Scott Freeman still remembers driving down University Boulevard and seeing a UCF student dart into traffic.

He grabbed her before a car hit her. She was hoping to kill herself and was covered in blood after punching windshields out of nearby vehicles.

He was able to calm her down, then have her committed involuntarily under the state’s Baker Act, so she could be treated both for her physical injuries and the mental illness from which she was later found to be suffering. The incident from several years ago is one of many in a constant cycle at the University of Central Florida.

People can be held against their will for up to three days for an emergency medical evaluation under a Baker Act. It’s implemented when a person is deemed mentally unstable.

Police say annually they are seeing more students suffering from mental breakdowns — and those numbers spike around final exams.

Last week during exams, UCF police held three people under the Baker Act.

With that student’s story in mind, Freeman helped coordinate a series of refresher classes for officers during final exams on interactions with the mentally ill and those going suffering breakdowns. This year was the first time the agency held the classes.

“This type of training can only make you a better cop,” he said. “It really teaches you the skills to try and resolve any situation peacefully because none of us want to have to use force. It’s our last resort.”

The crisis intervention team training is something more and more agencies around the country are doing, although it is not required when becoming an officer. Law enforcement officers are only required to take an eight-hour course while in the police academy.

The 40-hour CIT training takes officers through a number of scenarios to teach them how to de-escalate situations. It includes a step-by-step analysis of a situation and the best practices to calm a suspect down. Officers also speak with people diagnosed with mental illness as part of the training and watch body camera footage of officers’ interactions with the mentally ill.

Nearly all officers at UCF are CIT certified and go through the training after being hired. But as the agency saw the rising numbers of students struggling with mental illness issues, they decided to start the refresher class, which was attended by nearly every officer working at UCF.

In 2010, 30 students were taken into custody under the Baker Act. Each year that number has increased. Last year, 115 were taken for medical evaluation under the Baker Act. So far this year, at least 43 people have been Baker Acted.

UCF Deputy Chief Carl Metzger said there are three times in the school year when the numbers spike: the beginning of the semester; midterm exams; and the end of the semester around final exams.

“For a lot of students, this is their first time away from

home, so it can be stressful, which is why we see this rise in the beginning of the year,” Metzger said. “… Then toward exams, it [Baker Act] skyrockets because they [students] have this realization that they’re failing and think their parents will stop paying.”

He said the drastic increase in the number of Baker Acts at UCF, which has nearly quadrupled since 2010, is a good thing because officers are doing their jobs and are able to get these students help.

“We are de-escalating, then we are getting them the help they need to carry on,” he said. “We’re saving their lives and preventing something bad from happening, and hopefully we’re getting them the counseling and care they need to carry on with their lives.”

Laura Gailey, who works for Aspire Health Partners, which is the agency that helps provide CIT training across the region, agreed.

She said college students are at the age when mental health issues often emerge.

“Getting them help and a diagnosis is the most important thing because they might not even know they have an illness,” she said.

Since CIT training started in 2010, more than 2,000 law enforcement officers across the region have been trained. That includes about 500 Orange County deputies and a little more than 300 officers from the Orlando Police Department, according to data provided by Aspire. But with new hires, overturn and retirements, agencies are constantly trying to keep their numbers up as trained officers leave.

Orlando Police Capt. Sue Brown said about 20 percent of the agency is now trained, something she hopes will continue to grow.

She said Orlando officers responded to more than 2,300 calls for mentally ill suspects last year. The agency also was called to 14 suicides and more than 2,000 attempted suicides.

Freeman said these calls are when CIT training is most important.

After he was able to calm down the suicidal student, she got the help she needed and later graduated from the university, which he said “is the reason we do what we do.”

“We see it’s a problem in our area and we’re trying to be proactive and get these students help because there’s a lot of help out there,” Freeman said. “We want to help identify mental illness then steer these students to counseling so they can graduate and continue to be successful.”