Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s new police task force includes an initiative to provide both officers and first responders with better tactics to help assist those with mental illness.
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The new crisis reform will teach officers about the best ways to deescalate situations for those in crisis, Huffington Post reports.
“Crisis Intervention Team” will provide a 40-hour training course to 2,800 officers, 12,000 cops will receive training on mental health awareness and 911 dispatchers will be taught how to better decipher situations that require crisis-intervention tactics.
Emanuel said that the program hopes to give all first responders “the right training, practice, and preparations to de-escalate crisis situations safely and effectively.”