Course is designed to educate the law enforcement community about the most common forms of mental illness they will encounter as well as how to recognize signs, symptoms of mental illness, understand differences between them, effective communication skills for interviewing subjects and family members, impact of medications, and strategies on how to reduce the potential for use of force. An overview of incidents involving use of force with a mentally ill suspect or a person in crisis will also be addressed.

This course will apply to first responders, supervisors, watch commanders, jailers, and investigators.