WASHINGTON — The Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office reports that it has come a long way since it first started training its law enforcement officers five years ago to de-escalate situations involving mentally disabled people and those experiencing a mental health crisis.
Loudoun County Sheriff Mike Chapman said 100 percent of all deputies with two or more years on patrol participated in the training.
Five years ago, Chapman’s goal was to have 25 percent of sworn personnel trained. Now, 98 percent of the county’s emergency dispatchers also received crisis intervention training.
“It’s a system that helps deputies, our law enforcement people, de-escalate potentially violent situations usually involving folks with mental health issue,” said Chapman.
The training is for all of his deputies those who work in the jail, who work in the courthouse and those who are out in the field “cause there’s a use for all of it,” said Chapman. He added that it’s vital for dispatchers to receive the training so they know how to handle potentially violent situations when they’re phoned in.
Chapman said he is seeing less of a need for his deputies to use physical force. Use of Tasers has dropped dramatically, “from 36 uses six years ago to just two this past year.”
But Chapman also added that the training doesn’t apply to every situation; there are some cases that are violent and require immediate action on the part of the deputies or officers.
His department has been instrumental is helping other local law enforcement departments receive crisis intervention training.
