Twelve 911 telecommunicators from Cabarrus, Davidson and Rowan counties earned Crisis Intervention Team designation at a special graduation ceremony Aug. 27 at the Business & Technology Center of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College in Concord. The telecommunicators participated in a graduation ceremony, and received a certificate of completion from the RCCC Criminal Justice Department.
The training was a condensed 16-hour version of the quarterly 40-hour training that Piedmont Behavioral Healthcare offers local law enforcement. The 12 graduates joined six others who completed the first class for telecommunicators in late April. Like the crisis intervention training for officers, the 911 training will be offered quarterly to telecommunicators in Piedmont Behavioral’s five-county area of Cabarrus, Davidson, Rowan, Stanly and Union counties.
Members of the current class are Diana Gonzalez and Robin Allen, Salisbury Police Department; Roger Blackwell and Johnny Caudle Jr., Kannapolis Police Department; Amanda Levett, Annette Archer and Susan Dempsey, Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office; and Michelle Gardner, Tamara Painter, Brandon Mabe, Joshua Myers and Revik Walker, Davidson County 911.
In a press release, Piedmont Behavioral said 911 dispatchers need the training “to facilitate better coordination between calls coming in and officers being dispatched to situations involving mental health issues. Graduates are better equipped to assist individuals with specific disabilities after completing the CIT program.”
Program participants receive classroom training on mental health diagnoses, substance abuse and co-occurring disorders, adolescent concerns and crisis de-escalation. The training is sponsored by Piedmont Behavioral and is patented after the Memphis Tennessee Police Department Crisis Intervention Team Program.
The program was first introduced locally in 2008 through the collaborative efforts of the Rowan, Cabarrus and Union affiliates of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and Piedmont Behavioral. It offers specialized training to law enforcement officers responding to mental health crisis situations and encourages cooperation among law enforcement agencies, mental health professionals and local community agencies.
For more information on Crisis Intervention Team training for law enforcement or 911 telecommunicators, contact LaShay Avery, Piedmont Behavioral criminal justice coordinator, at 704-721-2713 or lashaya@pamh.com, or visit www.pbhcare.org/cit.