Officers attend special training in Lyons

Police officers in the towns and villages of Wayne County recently completed a session of the semi-annual training program, designed to comply with state standards for in-service training and to improve the knowledge and professionalism of the officers.

More than 50 officers from the Clyde, Lyons, Macedon, Newark, Palmyra, Sodus, Sodus Point and Wolcott Police Departments successfully completed the seven-hour training course, held last week in Lyons.

The curriculum was developed by the Wayne County Association of Police Chiefs (WCAPC), and includes such topics as firearms qualification, lawful use of force, and responding to situations involving emotionally disturbed people. Police instructors from the participating agencies presented the material. New York State accreditation standards require that each Department offer 21 hours of in-service training annually; the WCAPC program provides for 14 of those hours.

Officers attending the training session especially benefited from the 'Responding to Situations Involving Emotionally Disturbed People' segment, a recently developed NYS Office of Mental Health program that is being introduced Statewide to assist police officers in dealing with the mentally ill.

'Various factors have contributed over the years to a noticeable increase in mental illness in the community,' said Lyons Police Chief Michael R. Donalty, the president of the Wayne County Association of Police Chiefs. 'Most often, the police are the first to have contact with an emotionally disturbed person in need of assistance, and we need to be prepared to deal safely and effectively with these contacts. The information provided in this program provides the police officer with an increased awareness and understanding of the experience of mental illness.'

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