Santa Cruz Police hold public training on de-escalation and crisis intervention…

In the midst of a mental health crisis that is impacting much of the nation, the Santa Cruz Police department is offering training for the public on how to de-escalate situations.

Thursday, the department held it’s first De-escalation and Crisis Intervention Training.

Chief Andy Mills says they decided to do this after several community members asked how to deal with a person going through a mental health crisis. He says, “we’re not asking people to intervene, we’re not asking people to proactively approach people who have or are in a mental health crisis, this is when the crisis comes to you.”

Chief Mills also says, “sometimes what we’ve found is when people don’t know, including the police, what we found out is that it ramps up quickly. Because people start screaming at one another and that could have the exact opposite effect of what you want to take place.”

The first class was completely booked and is four hours long.

One of the attendees, Les Forester says he’s lived and worked in Santa Cruz County for over 60 years. He also say you can never know enough when it comes to mental health.

“I think it’s really important for the community to step up and learn all they can not just about mental health but how to support and work with and better the police departments efforts,” says Forester.

Today Chief Mills alongside Sgt. Carter Jones and Lt. Christian Le Moss discussed the most common mental health issues they encounter and how to safely deal with them.

“The idea is to teach people how to talk with somebody, to go low and slow. To make shorter sentences, ask open ended questions so that that way people understand what they’re dealing with. Still get the police in route, still use 911 for a mental health crisis like this, but this is what can buy you time,” says Chief Mills.

There will be another class held on August 14th. It is completely free, but you do need to register before attending.

If you are interested in attending email cjones@cityofsantacruz.com