Law enforcement training is a major priority in San Bernardino County, and county officials have partnered with the Sheriff’s Department to provide significant training in de-escalation tactics for handling non-violent situations or individuals suffering from mental health crises.
On last week’s episode of the Z107.7 Up Close Show, host Gary Daigneault had a lengthy conversation about homelessness in our county with Chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Dawn Rowe, Director of County Behavioral Health Dr. Georgina Yoshioka, and Director of County Behavioral Health Diane Rundel.
Daigneault asked Dr. Yoshioka about how the County is helping to provide training to Sheriff’s Deputies and then asked Rundel about the County’s financial stake in the training.
Dr. Yoshioka said, “When I started with the county in 2007, I came in learning about the crisis intervention training program, which is between the Department of Behavioral Health and Sheriff’s Department. So we partnered to train all law enforcement personnel throughout the county. Matter of fact, our program is so well received, we get other counties sending their officers as well.
But with that, we offer a 40-hour training and we basically provide an overview of mental health. We also have the idea of bringing de-escalation. We do scenarios on the last day where officers can now take the skills that they’re learning and knowledge they’re getting in the 40-hour and apply that in different scenarios via role play.
So when they’re out in the community, they can actually apply it. We also do tours of our different sites. So the deputies are aware of what those services are like (and) where they can access them.
But it’s been really great. We trained over 2,500 officers to date. Here in Morongo, actually all the officers have been trained in CIT.”
Daigneault asked about the stake of the County’s investment, to which Rundel replied,
“I think it’s a needed investment. Absolutely. You can’t expect a law enforcement officer to have all the answers out there in those crisis situations.
They need those experts, those professionals to support them and help them navigate things that require licensing and a lot of different education to get into those environments and be successful. So we recognize there’s a need to continue to partner, right? And to continue to address these issues that are happening out in the community.
But I think we’re definitely making strides and investments in that area.”
Listen to the full interview here:
