Law Enforcement Education
The NAMI NJ Law Enforcement Education Program is dedicated to ensuring that law enforcement officers and recruits receive mental illness education, and to promoting cooperation and communication between county criminal justice and mental health systems throughout the state.
Each county affiliate has at least one NAMI liaison who can be called upon to teach a basic class in mental illness awareness for law enforcement. The class can take from one half hour to two hours, depending upon the needs of the audience. The class includes a brief history of the treatment of mental illness, a 12 minute video about its biological nature, a review of symptoms and warning signs, a discussion of the 1989 Psychiatric Emergency Screening Law and its significance for police officers, and an explanation of the DOs and DON’Ts for law enforcement dealing with mental illness crisis situations.
For more information about the program please contact NAMI NJ office at (732) 940-0991, or [email protected].
PROGRAM RESOURCES:
The Community I Serve: Law Enforcement & Persons with Mental Illness
NAMI NJ’s law enforcement training video, 26-minute
Visit NAMI NJ Store for ordering information
Finding Our Way: Advocating for People with Mental Illness in the New Jersey Criminal Justice System, A Guide for Consumers and Their Family Members
Copyright @ 2008 NAMI NJ. Freely downloadable.
NAMI NJ Do and Don’t Card for Law Enforcement Education
See larger print of card content
Visit NAMI NJ Store for ordering information
The following materials have been developed and copyrighted by NAMI New Jersey, and are available free of charge to any individual or agency. We ask that you contact Phil Lubitz, NAMI NJ Associate Director, at [email protected] or (732) 940-0991 before downloading this material and let us know how you will be using it.
• PowerPoint Presentation: “Mental Illness – What it is, what it isn’t. How to deal with people who have it.”
• 12-page Class Handout: “Police Response to Mental Illness Crisis”
• Our Stories: True stories of New Jersey residents and their courageous battle with mental illness
• Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System – What Families Can Do
• NAMI NJ Law Enforcement Education Program Speakers Handbook
RELATED RESOURCES:
Code 9 Officer Needs Assistance – A documentary film raising awareness about Post-Traumatic Stress and the effects on first responders and their families.
The Code 9 Project – A non-profit organization with a mission is to provide education, support and viable self-help tools to all Public Civil Servants and their families for the purpose of managing, reducing and eventually eliminating the compressive stress effects, such as PTSD and suicide.
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