Addressing Law Enforcement and Peer Tensions PEER Voices Podcast

We’ve all heard horror stories of what happens when police officers have to deal with people living with mental illness. What can we do to make horrible things not happen so often? The answer is CIT, Crisis Intervention Training. Join us as Sergeant Matt Harris, the supervisor of the Columbus, Ohio mobile crisis unit explains some of the history of CIT in Franklin County, and what his day to day work looks like.
 
“CIT came to Columbus, Ohio, in about 2001. I got involved, pretty much right away. It finally gave us some meaningful training on how to not just put a Band-Aid on a situation. How to actually do something that was more meaningful to help because we really didn't know what to do. And it's not like CIT teaches you how to solve all the problems, but it definitely helps better understanding what is happening to this individual? Right. Recognizing that this is not criminality here. This is a health issue. This is a mental health issue.” ~Sgt. Matt Harris