Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, Missoula law enforcement and mental health professionals are receiving refresher training as part of the Crisis Intervention Team.

Missoula Police Detective Ben Slater said the Crisis Intervention Team is a group of community professionals that work together to help defuse situations involving individuals who are experiencing mental problems that could result in criminal activity or injury.

"This group is learning advanced deescalation techniques in stages of escalating crisis as part of their refresher training," Slater said. "Basic deescalation techniques involve introducing ourselves as an officer or as a mental health professional, and then be able to identify the crisis facing the individual in front of us."

Slater said the goal of the training is to have a successful outcome in every crisis situation.

"The successful conclusion is to have everyone walk away safe," he said. "We want to help take that individual out of their crisis state and help introduce them to services that will bring them the help they need."

Those involved in the training include the City Police department, The Missoula County Sheriff's Office and the Western Montana Mental Health Center.

Officers from the Missoula Police Department have had this training since 2007 when two officers traveled to Helena to learn about this new model.  Since that time, 26 Missoula Police Officers have had the specialized training, and more will attend another 40 hour block currently scheduled for April 2016.

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