Ryan LaDuke, an officer at Duke University Police Department since 2008, has been named the Duke Crisis Intervention Training Officer of the Year.
The training and award highlight the need for police officers to be better equipped to handle people with mental illnesses, according to officials from the Durham Police Department. People with mental illnesses are arrested more frequently and spend longer time in jail than the average citizens. Sending them to jail may be the legal thing to do, but it may not be the most humane course of action, as jails are not specifically designed to handle this population. DUPD would rather connect them to treatment facility than to have them incarcerated.
Officer LaDuke went though 40 hours of training with this goal in mind. According to Today@Duke, LaDuke wanted to take the training to learn new policies that could be helpful in emergency situations, including, for example, how to best communicate and create an open dialogue with individuals who could harm themselves or others.
The training paid off when LaDuke had to confront a person threatening suicide and a person walking into traffic along Erwin Road.
"There was one woman who was yelling that she needed psychological help and walking in the street on Erwin Road putting herself in danger," LaDuke said. "So I was able to talk to her and convince her to let me take her to Urban Ministries to get her some food and find someone to help her out."
Many Duke students are appreciative that their police officers are taking time to address what the students see as a real problem.
“It’s nice to see they are not just busting up parties, but are actually caring about those who are truly in need,” said sophomore Michael Blum.
The training may come in handy when dealing with Duke students as well, as the officers also learn about areas like suicide risk assessment and intervention, developmental disabilities and special concerns with adolescents.
“At this rate, I may be the next person walking down Erwin screaming before my midterm is over,” said junior Laura David.
One can only hope officer LaDuke will be there when David or some other Duke students start behaving that way.
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