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Mental health training for law enforcement in York County leads to significant results, participants say

20 years ago, officers say mental health wasn't a top priority. Now, there is a recognition that mental health is a big part of the job.

YORK COUNTY, Pa. — A refresher course in Crisis Intervention or CIT brought class to the York Area Regional Police Department in York Township, York County. The students, police, parole officers, and prison workers, spent time on the subject of mental health. 

"When I started 20 years ago, mental health was four hours in the academy and whatever you come on the job with," explained County Detective Derek Hartman.

Now, Hartman says there is a recognition that mental health is a big part of the job. He says, officers in York County respond to more than 2,000 calls which involve mental health every year.  

"Whether it's somebody who is depressed or somebody with schizophrenia," explained the former PIO for York City Police. "We realize there is not enough training for the amount of time we spend with people with mental illness."

Tuesday afternoon at the station, some of the teachers, including social workers, mental health experts, and survivors of trauma, gave police a new perspective.

"Being able to understand where they come from, that helps me remain compassionate to the people I work with," said Mike Stough, a pupil and also the Deputy Director of Adult Probation for York County.

He says roughly 20 probation officers, of a team of about 75 people, will receive this training and learn different ways to de-escalate situations.

"Probably 20 years ago when I would go through arrest training, it would be more about apprehension of the offender. Now, it's about de-escalation, how to de-escalate the situation first," explained Stough.

The results, he says, have been significant.

"Our case numbers have drastically reduced," he explained. "We were probably when I first started about 14,000 cases. We're down to 7,000 cases. We're working with individuals more. We're not just the old, 20 years ago, trail 'em and jail 'em approach. We're working with the offender to trying to get them the help they need."

That help includes linking people to social workers, transporting people in crisis to the hospital, and connecting people to drug and alcohol resources. 

More training has also meant less people being put back in jail for violating parole.

"We arrest a significantly less amount of people probably as of five years ago," explained Stough.

Police across Pennsylvania will soon be spending more time in the classroom. A new law signed by Governor Wolf requires enhanced training on how to treat people of different racial, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. It also requires officers to test for post traumatic stress disorder every two years or within 30 days of deadly use-of-force.

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