Ill. State Police expands its crisis intervention training

ILLINOIS (KFVS) - Illinois State Police announced it’s rolling out a 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team training for all officers starting in February.

According to a release from ISP, the training is officer-led. It includes basic information about mental illnesses and how to recognize them, information about mental health laws and resources, experiential learning from family members of individuals with mental illness, verbal de-escalation training and role playing and connecting individuals in crisis to treatment.

The training also focuses heavily on officer wellness.

“Law enforcement officers are often still the first to respond to individuals with mental illness given the limits of crisis mental health services across the country,” said ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly in the release. “ISP’s formalized 40-hour training includes intervention tactics and mental health education to ensure all our officers have the tools to help safely manage interactions with persons in mental health crisis.”

Currently, 51 ISP officers have completed the 40-hour training program and 13 officers have completed the additional 24-hour Train-the-Trainer Course.

Those 13 officers are now providing the 40-hour training to ISP officers statewide.

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