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SALT LAKE CITY — Police officers may soon lose access to training they say is crucial in critical situations, especially when it involves individuals with a mental illness.
The Executive Appropriations committee has 39 on-going programs to fund, with the Crisis Intervention Team training potentially being cut because there is not enough money to fund all the programs.
Officers say they cannot afford to lose any money for the program.
For Laura Bangerter, the subject of officers dealing with mentally ill people is a tender topic. Her 34-year-old son was diagnosed with schizophrenia 14 years ago and had a severe episode a few years ago that prompted officer involvement.
"The police were called. Four officers came racing into my front door with guns drawn," described Bangerter. "Talk about a traumatic experience. It was absolutely awful."
Bangerter said she did not know about the Crisis Intervention Team at the time, but a little while later, her son drove into a tree. Officers on scene thought he was drunk or high and arrested him. This time, Bangerter asked for a CIT officer.
I'm absolutely 100 percent convinced that my son would be alive today if the officers who responded to the distress call from his wife had adequate training on how to deal with those who are mentally ill.
–Duane Cardall
"She was speaking to (my son) in very calm tones, giving him lots of space," Bangerter said. "And within just a matter of minutes, the matter had been resolved and he was able to safely come home."
Salt Lake Police Detective Aaron Leavitt is certified in the program through a one-week 40-hour training. He said it is important for individuals with mental illnesses to have someone to help them understand what is going on.
"When they are having these voices or they are having these physiological effects on their persons, it takes them longer to process what I'm telling them and to react to it," said Det. Leavitt.
The State Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health funds the program for $150,000 a year. Now the program will lose half of its money, which has Utahns like Duane Cardall worried. In 2009, police used a taser to de- escalate a situation with his son Brian, who had a mental illness.
In a letter to members of the Utah Legislative Executive Appropriations Committee he wrote: "I'm absolutely 100 percent convinced that my son would be alive today if the officers who responded to the distress call from his wife had adequate training on how to deal with those who are mentally ill."
The committee plans to meet this week to decide whether or not the CIT program can receive $118,000 to continue training officer on handling people with mental illnesses.
