Lexington Police talks crisis intervention training

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Lexington Police says every agency in the commonwealth is different and the training they go through also varies.
They also say crisis intervention situations happen more often than we imagine or hear about.

“I’m with the Lexington Police Department, so I can’t speak to the training regiments and priorities of all surrounding departments, but I do know this that law enforcement as a whole, I say universally, prioritizes you know, crisis intervention training,” says Lieutenant Daniel Burnett with the Lexington Police Department, who is also an instructor of cit (crisis intervention training).

As mental health continues to make headlines, agencies like the Lexington Police Department are adapting and training new and veteran officers.

“From the classroom, to, you know, video reviews and discussions and after action reviews, lessons learned and then to actual practical scenarios. And then of course on job training. Everybody’s evaluated constantly on what they’re doing and how they perform,” explained Lt. Burnett about the training.

Working alongside professionals like New Vista, Lexington Police are trying to ensure that training in crisis intervention situations is a priority.

New Vista helps provide the mental health portion for crisis intervention training for police.

“We train together hand in hand, we do the mental health version, and they do the police version. And then we give some feedback and their role plays, there’s later on in the role plays that they kind of were that you can apply some of that information. And on the last day, we also bring in people with lived experience that meet with law enforcement,” says Darcy Miller, the regional director of emergency response and client engagement at New Vista.

Lieutenant Daniel Burnett with Lexington Police says on top of that training they try to make sure to instill a process when assessing crisis intervention situations.

“Every situation is different for that, okay, if somebody is armed with a firearm, or if somebody is acting extremely erratically, you know there’s, it can take a while to get things calm. And so a big thing that we have to do is first just work on the security of the scene, then it is investigate. So we have to figure out hey, what’s going on here, what, maybe this is root cause what are all the factors and circumstances at play here. Then it’s on to the assess phase, so what can we what are our options here, and then last is facilitate so whatever that assessment is of of your options, then you try to facilitate that solution,” adds Burnett of the four step process.

New Vista also says reaching out is always an options, since they offer a variety of services.

“And sometimes you have a loved one that’s struggling with mental health or substance use issues. But that also affects a family member or a loved one’s mental health. And so we can provide supports to both,” says Miller.

You can call New Vista’s 24-hour help line at 1(800) 928-8000.