Farmington Hills PD becomes first in state to provide mental health training to all officers and dispatchers

FARMINGTON HILLS — During the course of his approximately 29-year career in law enforcement, Farmington Hills Police Chief Jeff King has observed multiple changes in his line of work.

One of the big ones has been mental health and how it relates to policing.

“It’s night and day compared to what it was 29 years ago,” King said.

King and his department can now lay claim to helping set a precedent. On June 27, the Farmington Hills Police Department received a resolution from the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards — MCOLES — that recognized the department as the first law enforcement agency in the state to provide mental health training to all of its officers, cadets and dispatchers.

According to a press release, “implementation of this proactive training for law enforcement personnel is in alignment with national trends towards more empathetic and effective policing.”

Beginning in January of last year, all 131 officers and dispatchers took part in a two-day program at the Farmington Hills Police Department that was taught by Cardinal Group II, a company that specializes in professional development for police service professionals.

The program taught participants how to recognize when someone is experiencing a mental-health crisis, as well as de-escalation techniques and effective communication strategies, the release states.

Following the completion of the initial mental health training, the department is currently training instructors in a voluntary second phase aimed at equipping a selected group of department members with the skills and tools needed to deliver mental health training to new recruits and dispatchers, according to the release.

“It’s probably about a two-year project,” King said. “Now we’re in the phase where we’re training our own people to train the trainers so that we can continue training all of our people, not only in certifying them in this training, but we can recertify them (and) get them maintenance training to keep those skills and abilities fresh going forward. … This is (going to) be an ongoing program. … It’s something that’s needed.”

King said that it is in addition to the “robust” training that the department already has in place.

Being the first Police Department in the state to go through the training is not something that is lost on King.

“I really wanted … to set the tone, not only for our agency, for our community, but (for) law enforcement in southeast Michigan and for Michigan,” he said. “If an individual experiencing a mental health crisis just needs to talk to a counselor or someone, a police officer probably shouldn’t be there, because at that level of emergency, life safety is not required, but when someone is suffering through a situation like that and there’s an emergency, life-safety issue with that mental health situation, law enforcement is going to be there … (and) they should have the best possible training out there.”

The training has now become a mandatory requirement for all recruits of Michigan police academies, with MCOLES adopting the training that was initiated in Farmington Hills.

“Chief Jeff King and the Farmington Hills Police Department have demonstrated dedication and performance above and beyond the standard by becoming the first law enforcement agency in the state to have 100 percent of their sworn officers, dispatchers and cadets educated in the Commission’s 20-hour behavioral health Emergency Partnership training,” Kim Koster, who is the chair for MCOLES, stated in the resolution. “The Department has developed strong relationships with behavioral health professionals and agencies by taking steps to invest in the preparation of all personnel.”

The Farmington Hills Police Department responded to 412 recorded mental health incidents last year, which was a 3% increase from the year prior, according to the release.

Also according to the release, this year, the department responded to 155 recorded mental health incidents from January-May.

King estimated that around 15% of the approximately 55,000 calls the department gets during a year have some element of mental health associated with them.

From the perspective of Ken Massey, who is the chair of SAFE — Suicide Awareness for Everyone — the training that the Farmington Hills Police Department went through is a “great step forward.”

“In today’s environment, mental health is as important as physical health, and we need to help people,” said Massey, who is a former Farmington Hills City Councilman. “We all have things that are challenging us and that manifests itself in different ways. … We again, Farmington Hills, are leading the way and starting a program that’s beneficial.”

According to King, the department acquired a $300,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation for the training.

The Farmington Public Safety Department also had an opportunity to participate in the training.

“When Farmington Hills secured this grant – and we go on so many assists with Farmington … we invited them to participate, and their entire department participated in this training, also at our location,” King said. “They didn’t attend on the grant, only Farmington Hills did, but because of our training that was kind of thrown in, (there were) a couple extra seats for our partners in Farmington.”

According to Massey, King is a public safety liaison for SAFE.

He also acknowledged Farmington Public Safety Director Bob Houhanisin.

“(The) mental health of the community is something that is near and dear to Public Safety Director Houhanisin and Chief King,” Massey said. “This is really important to them.”

Mental health-related calls to the Farmington Hills Police Department have included threats of suicide and attempted suicide, as well as assisting in petitions and court-ordered petitions for mental health treatment.

According to the release, aside from benefiting the community, the training also supports the mental health of law enforcement officers.

King said that the training was “phenomenal.”

“They’ve already utilized it (in) several situations where they’ve gotten out and talked to individuals and successfully resolved a tense, life-threatening situation where somebody’s armed, threatening to harm themselves or others, de-escalated it, got those individuals into protective custody, (and) got them the help that they truly are in need of,” he said. “It’s been a huge success. … I think it’s really going to be a benefit to law enforcement.”