News
Criminal Justice Provides Crisis Management Training to Local Police Departments
The Criminal Justice Department announced a continued partnership with the Ogden and Fairport police departments to provide training to police officers. Professors Glenn Grana and Cindy Lee presented a two-day training to all officers of the Ogden and Fairport Police Departments on crisis management. The program included being able to identify mental health indicators, by a person in crisis, and defusing and de-escalation techniques. The training took place on Aug. 12 and 19.
This training is part of the continued collaboration between Roberts Wesleyan College and the Fairport Police Department on the restorative justice-alternatives to arrest and Incarceration research project. "We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with local police departments to educate officers on these techniques and to share a real-life view of crisis management and give the participants the opportunity to participate in exercises in controlled environments, said Criminal Justice Professor Glenn Grana. “This training is an educational resource for police departments that provides robust solutions to use in crisis situations."
Chief Christopher Mears (Ogden PD) and Chief Sam Farina (Fairport PD) see the benefits of this training as helping better equip their officers with defusing and de-escalation techniques that they can employ when encountering a person in crisis. This training helps in the initial assessment process, allowing the officers the opportunity to triage the situation using skills associated with a better understanding of the verbal and physical indicators that an inpidual in a mental health crisis may present.