This spring members of the Ottumwa Police Department and Ottumwa Fire Department participated in Crisis Intervention Training sponsored by the South Central Behavioral Health Region (Appanoose, Davis, Mahaska and Wapello Counties).
This five day, forty hour class is an innovative first-responder model of police based training to help persons with mental disorders and/or addictions access medical treatment rather than place them in the criminal justice system due to illness related behaviors. It also promotes officer safety and the safety of the individual in crisis.
Eighteen officers have had this training.
