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Millions to Go Toward Mental Health
Crisis Training for Police Officers
Photo: KSTP
June 07, 2017 06:57 PM
Millions of dollars included in the state budget will go to new mental health training for the nearly
11-thousand law enforcement officers in Minnesota.
Over the next four years, $24 million will go to departments across the state.
http://kstp.com/news/mental-health-training-minnesota-police-officers/4507320/6/8/2017
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More mental health crisis training is something officers from the smallest one person forces to
those that number in the thousand have been asking for.
"These are very challenging situations," Nate Gove, Executive Director of the Minnesota Board
of Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST), said.
Most departments have been doing some training already, but there's a costs tend to be
expensive.
Gove says on average, local governments spend $34 million per year on ongoing police
training.
Last year, the state reimbursed $2.8 million.
Starting next year, departments will get that $2.8 million, plus an additional $6 million over each
of the next 4 years to spend on officer training.
This works out to about $960 per officer, which is up from $312 per officer last year.
"Officers, they're interested in providing the best public service. As a former officer myself, I
know that is done everyday, and the public recognizes that. Anything we can do to make our
state better, there is bipartisan support for this," Gove said.
"It doesn't matter if you are in metro area, a big community or small, having those skills is so
important now more than ever," Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell said.
Schnell has also been a chief in smaller Minnesota cities.
He says this money will especially help rural Minnesota communities.
"The reality is, in the metro, where training opportunities are plentiful, it's a bit easier. But you go
out-state and it's very challenging for agencies to access it," he said.
The mandate will require 16 hours of training per officer every three years.
The bill phases in the requirements incrementally starting next July.
http://kstp.com/news/mental-health-training-minnesota-police-officers/4507320/6/8/2017