Unique training allows law enforcement to better understand mental illnesses

Washington County — (KUTV) Mental health and police response experts report that an estimated 10% of the calls they deal with in Washington County involve someone who has a mental illness or hears voices.

On Thursday, St. George police officers, and Washington County dispatchers sat in on training that allows them step into the shoes of the mentally ill. This training will hopefully teach them how to better communicate with these individuals in the future.

In the training, officers and dispatchers were required to wear audio headphones that allowed them to hear whispers, angry, demanding voices

According to Amy Watson, mental health and police response expert from University of Illinois at Chicago, that is what someone with schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder hear 24/7.

“Voices tend to have more violent content in the U.S. where as in places in India where she studies there was more sexual content so it could have to do with what people are exposed to in the culture and specific taboos,” Watson said.

With the increasing homeless and mentally ill population around the state, Watson said the tools these law enforcement employees are learning is crucial. The hope is that it will break the communication barrier between the mentally ill and police, leading to less confrontation.

“It might not be someone trying to not answer, it could be that they are just trying to sort through and trying to come up with an answer and struggling.” Watson said.

“I think just approach them slowly with concern, like a human being and just realize that if you start conversing with them and they start to sort through different types of stimuli that you might not be aware of just to take it slow.”

To experience what some bi-polar, schizophrenic people deal with or to see the type of training officers went through, watch the news story above.