Local law enforcement benefits from crisis training

Members from the Eden Police Department, Reidsville Police Department and the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office graduated from a week of crisis intervention training provided by Center Point Human Services and their partners. They were given a certificate and a pin to show a successful completion of this training on Friday afternoon.

Victor Armstrong, community operations coordinator for Center Point, said this training is designed to help officers learn how to deal with individuals who have mental health, substance abuse, and other psychological problems. This is only the second training session in Rockingham County, so this process is still relatively new.

Armstrong said the classes consisted mostly of classroom instruction from professionals about these individuals, role playing exercises, and visits to programs in the community who offer mental health and substance abuse services. Armstrong said this was a great training group to work with and they learned a lot from each other during this past week.

“As we progressed through the week, we shared a lot with them and they shared a lot with us about what they see on the streets,” Armstrong said. “They gave us feedback on what we can do in order to help make the system better. They came here every morning, on time and ready to work. I’m extremely proud of this group.”

Sheriff Sam Page, Eden Police Chief A. Reece Pyrtle Jr. and Reidsville Police Chief Edd Hunt were all in attendance to say a few words about the program and present their offices with their pins and certificates. Page said it is important for officers to learn all they can to support the mental health community and do a better job in the field.

“These individuals are citizens and we have to help these people,” Page said. “We want to be the best officers we can be and this crisis intervention training will help us get there. We have to figure out a way to get these individuals home where they belong. They don’t need to be locked up, but they do need the help.”

Pyrtle said the Reidsville Area Foundation was instrumental in getting all parties involved in this training to start a dialogue, and address any issues and problems they faced.

“It does us all good when we can come together in the county and work toward an end result,” Pyrtle said.

Hunt said he is very optimistic about the progress that will happen in the future.

“I see this as a big step in solving a problem that’s been facing law enforcement for years,” Hunt said. “For years we didn’t see any progress, and I think in the past three years, the right people have come to the table and are beginning to work together and see that there are solutions. Collaboratively, we will be able to make a big difference.”

Armstrong said organizers are hoping to do at least two training sessions a year in the future. He also wants officers who have been through the training to come back and share how they have utilized it in the field.

“The officers that have been through the training will be very instrumental in helping us to train other officers for the field,” Armstrong said. “We also like to have representation on our committee so we can know what works. I can honestly say I feel a lot safer with these officers on the street.”