Officers Becker & Fiandaca complete Crisis Intervention Team training

The Wake Forest Police Department (WFPD) is pleased to announce that Officers Becker and Fiandaca recently completed Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training.

A specialized law enforcement program, the CIT is a partnership between 17 Wake County law enforcement agencies, Wake County Human Services, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. The initiative is designed to develop a more effective, compassionate, and safer approach to interacting with people suffering from a mental illness or developmental disability crisis.

The CIT provides 40 hours of specialized training to sworn law enforcement officers. The training helps officers identify individuals in a mental health crisis and utilize effective techniques to deescalate crisis situations. As a result, there are fewer incidents of incarceration of persons with mental illness for misdemeanor charges, and fewer injuries to both officers and individuals with mental illness.

Of the more than 500 certified CIT officers in Wake County, WFPD has 69 of them within its ranks.