Over the past year, there has been a call for police officers and departments to do a better job dealing with mental health issues especially with regards to COVID. The MA in Criminal Justice hosted a panel of practitioners today specifically focused on responding to community concerns in stressful times. Notably, the panel emphasized responding to people in the community by seeing their actions in a contextualized manner instead of focusing solely on actions. Crisis Intervention Training is a program that police officers can take to learn how to de-escalate situations, deal with involuntary commitment, and more generally to meet people where they are. The panel stressed that the future of policing and criminal justice must strive to find an equitable response for all communities.
