LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Mid-Michigan first responders, including police officers and security personnel, became students once again this week, learning ways to de-escalate a number of situations they might encounter in the real world.
The training took place in Lansing thanks to the Tri-County Crisis Intervention Training Board.
The 40-hour-long course uses a combination of bookwork and then on Fridays, it’s capped off with real-world scenarios.
Tri-County CIT created the program in 2016 and the goal is simple: to reduce violent outcomes and save lives.
It sounds real and it’s supposed to.
In one scenario, a man pretended to have a mental health crisis to help first responders from Clinton, Eaton, and Ingham counties learned how to de-escalate situations like these.
Whether it’s a mental health call for someone with dementia or a domestic abuse call involving a law enforcement officer it was all covered as the course wrapped up.
Earlier in the week these students heard from real people who actually lived through these traumatic situations.
“We also talked to people who lived it first hand and got their perspective of everything from the beginning all the way to the end with their recovery,” said LPD officer and attendee Daniel Foote.
He thinks all law enforcement in the area should give the course a go.
“With all the training we gathered here like throughout the entire week. It kind of nice to actually come to a scenario and actually put everything that we learned into use and see how it actually works out,” he said.
After Friday’s training, the board will have graduated a total of more than 425 public safety professionals from various organizations around the area.
