First Responders Graduate from Alexandria Crisis Intervention Team

A group of first responders and corrections officers last week graduated from a Crisis Intervention Team class at the Alexandria Detention Center.

Seventeen police officers, sheriff’s deputies and a probation and parole officer graduated Aug. 5 as part of the sixth Crisis Intervention Team. 

The team was developed in partnership with the city’s Community and Human Services Department, the Police Department and the Alexandria Sheriff’s Office to help improve staff interactions with the mentally ill or people who experience substance abuse disorders.

The graduates go through 40 hours of training to learn skills such as suicide intervention, verbal de-escalation techniques and the role of a family in caring for a family member who has mental illness. Participants also do role-playing exercises as part of the class curriculum.