Mental Illness & Law Enforcement-Freeport

This Class has been Canceled

Purpose of Course: This workshop has been developed with the purpose of addressing the issues related to law enforcement officers and their interactions with citizens who are mentally ill.

Course Description

Police officers must be fully prepared to interact with the mentally ill population in a competent manner.  Often mentally ill citizens come in contact with the police due to their behaviors or to the reaction of others to them.  They may require specialized treatment from law enforcement.  Police officers are often asked to fulfill various roles with the mentally ill. Mentally ill people can be either victims or offenders. They can be violent or not violent. A broad comprehension of the behaviors of mental illness can assist the officer to know at what level use of force should be utilized. This complicated relationship requires specialized skills on the part of law enforcement.

Course Goals

The goal of this course is to train law enforcement officers in understanding the complex interactions that are caused by interacting with mentally ill citizens, both as offenders and victims.  To achieve this goal, focus will be specifically placed upon:

·         Review of major psychological impairments

·         Recognition of characteristics of mentally ill people

·         Assessment of violence in mentally ill people

·         Use of “approximation of behaviors technique” in mentally ill

·         Understanding attitudes towards mentally ill people

·         Strategic verbalizations to lower anxiety in mentally ill people

·         Review of the Americans with Disabilities Act

·         Discussion of crisis behavior and the mentally ill

·         Common mistakes made while dealing with the mentally ill

·         Approach techniques for mentally ill people

·         Techniques for reducing stress with mentally ill people

·         General commands in American Sign Language

Learning Objectives for Course:

·         To be able to recognize mentally ill citizens

·         To be able to de-escalate mentally ill people

·         To ensure personal safety when dealing with the mentally ill

·         To avoid common mistakes when dealing with mentally ill