INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD is making sure its newest recruits know how to handle mental health-related calls with special training.
Officer Brittany Faull has been the woman in charge of IMPD's recruits for the last few years.
She said, right now, officers focus on three areas when responding to a mental health call.
"It does not have to be previously diagnosed, but mental illness. Our second prong that we're looking for is danger to themselves, others or gravely disabled and our third prong is a need of immediate hospitalization and treatment," Faull said.
Faull said when IMPD officers respond to these types of calls, people having a mental health episode are not under arrest, but detained so officers can get them the medical help they need.
"It's a civil detention. We are forced to go for a psychiatric evaluation," Faull said. "However, what our big key takeaway from that is, it's not punitive. It is not, 'You are in trouble.' It is truly a tool for us to provide help for that person who is suffering from a mental health crisis."
On Saturday, 13News was invited to be a part of that training process.
A few of our anchors and reporters even had the chance to practice different scenarios similar to what officers encounter in the field.
"If we didn't have this type of training, it wouldn't allow our officers to recognize these symptoms and be able to verbally de-escalate to keep that person safe, but also keep our officers safe," Faull said.
IMPD said this type of training is above and beyond what is provided in the state academy.
Moving forward they hope to continue teaching other young officers so everyone stays safe.
"You're not alone. When it's dealing with a mental health issue and it can affect anyone at any time and we have to be aware of that," Officer Faull said.
IMPD said they plan on training officers for more types of situations including people that have autism.