The Wellesley Police Department has embarked on a program to ensure successful interactions between police officers and citizens affected by mental illness.
The “One Mind Campaign” is spearheaded by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the organization that Chief Cunningham led for the past year and is now going to work for full-time.
Under the program, the Wellesley Police Department will do the following: partner with one or more community mental health organizations (it already works with Riverside Community care); develop/implement a policy for police response to persons affected by mental illness (this has been accomplished); train and certify all Wellesley Police Department officers in mental health first aid; Provide Crisis Intervention Team training to a minimum of 20 percent of sworn officers (5 officers are already trained and certified). The department expects to hit all benchmarks under the program by the end of next year.
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