KNOX COUNTY — The Knox County Sheriff’s Office has completed a pledge to improve its response to those with a mental health condition in Knox County. The pledge is part of an initiative called the One Mind Campaign which was started by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), a professional association for law enforcement that provides training, technical assistance, and recruitment services. To join the One Mind Campaign, law enforcement agencies must pledge to implement four promising practices in a 12–36 month period to ensure successful future interactions between police officers and persons with mental health conditions.

In the law enforcement community, people with mental health conditions have become a common focus, with some departments estimating that as many as 20% of their calls for service are related to mental health challenges, according to the KCSO, in a news release. Sheriff Carroll made the decision to join the IACP’s One Mind Campaign because of the increasing number of calls for service that involve individuals with mental health conditions throughout Knox County.

By completing the One Mind Pledge, the Knox County Sheriff’s Office established a sustainable partnership with local mental health organizations Sweetser and Maine Behavioral Health, developed and implemented a model policy to address deputies’ interactions with those affected by mental health conditions, and ensured that all of its deputies received mental health awareness training, with at least twenty percent of the department completing the more intensive Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) or equivalent crisis response training.

The 40-hour Crisis Intervention curriculum is designed to train officers to respond to calls that involve individuals with mental health condition. The curriculum includes education on various de-escalation techniques and live role-play scenarios of officers responding to persons who need mental health assistance.