INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has given News 8 a look at a training program that seeks to help police interact with people experiencing mental crises.

The situations can be scary for the person and the officers, and that sometimes turn deadly after police use force.

IMPD shared footage of its scenario-based training for police recruits. The training includes scenarios that mimic life and cause the trainees to react to people with mental health crises.

Brittany Faull of IMPD leads the class. It’s personal for her as she has an autistic family member, she said. “I really wanted to make sure that we, as an agency, were fulfilling a lot of these needs.”

Faull says she had been teaching the class for four years.

The scenarios included one inside a retail shop and another on interacting with emotional family members, according to video of the training that IMPD shared with News 8.

“We recreate a very realistic situation for the recruits, who then have to go in, and they have to problem solve. Our goal is to find ways to slow the situation down using time, distance and barriers,” Faull said.

She said the training was designed to improve outcomes, and “not just to keep us safe, as police officers, but it’s also to keep our public safe, and the person who’s going through this crisis safe.”

“What I really want to do is to help (the recruits) understand and recognize signs and symptoms of somebody who might be having a mental health crisis or has a mental health diagnoses,” Faull said.

Faull shared ideas about how to de-escalate. “If the person is yelling or screaming, maybe taking a few moments to let that person finish what it is that they’re trying to express. Then, come at them in a very calm, open posture demeanor.”

As the program moves into another year, Faull said that she hopes it expands “so (the recruits) do feel more confident in the choices and the decisions that they are making as officers.”

Faull said the entire department recently participated in a federal program to train officers on much of the same issues and scenarios. She says she hoped to streamline the process by working closely with hospital staff in an effort to get people the proper help needed.

Mental health resources

• Be Well Indiana
• Indiana Suicide Prevention
• Indiana Department of Child Services’ Children’s Mental Health Initiative
• National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988 or 800-273-8255
• More resources