HONOLULU (KHON2) — Experts said one in four people suffer from a mental health condition, substance abuse or anxiety. When police are called, officers might not always know the best way to handle it, but the Honolulu Police Department is to change that.
In one scene, officers try to control an unruly woman, and in another, they try to calm a man on the edge.
These are hypothetical situations that can and do happen in the real world and HPD wants to be better at them.
“I think as a department, we’ve come to the realization that we’re not gonna solve all our community problems through arrests and citations,” said Sgt. Corbin Matsumoto, Honolulu Police Department Crisis Intervention Team.
“So the community members who are in a mental health crisis will get help, not handcuffs,” said Kumi Mccdonald, National Alliance of Mental Illness Hawaii executive director. “We don’t need more people in and out of the system. We want to get them help.”
This group, filled with law enforcement from several agencies, is wrapping up a week-long crisis intervention training with role-play.
It’s led by HPD, the National Alliance on Mental Illness Hawaii and the Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center.
The groups said this collaborative effort helps because it covers the gaps, so people can get assistance from the proper professional, whether that be mental health, social work or law enforcement.
“But it also allows the officers to have more time to address the true public safety issues,” said Heather Lusk, Hawaii Health & Harm Reduction Center executive director. “The violence, and some of the things we’ve been seeing in our community that have been increasing.”
The training started in 2018 and is voluntary. They hold these training sessions four times a year. The groups say it is helping.
“It’s really the coconut wireless,” said Lusk. “So the officers here talked to their peers and said this worked. I used these skills, and it made a difference. I was able to connect with this person and help reduce the challenges.”
After Friday’s graduation, more than 250 Honolulu Police officers will have successfully completed the crisis training. Organizers hope that number to be more like 350 to 400. That way, a crisis-trained officer is available anytime, if needed.
“I want our community to know that if you call 911, you can request for a CIT officer if it is an emergency,” said Matsumoto. “Our officers are equipped to be more passionate, to be understanding, to be empathetic towards the situation and find a resolution that might not necessarily result in an arrest.”
Organizers said if you’re having a mental health issue, you can call 988.