KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — More than 50 law enforcement officers were in Knoxville Thursday for crisis negotiator training.
The officers learned de-escalation and communication skills and then put those skills into play with real-life, role-playing scenarios.
According to studies, at least 20% of police calls for service involve a mental health or substance abuse crisis. In December 2023, a climate assessment report for Knoxville Police found the department needed a more formalized, comprehensive crisis intervention team and more regular training.
"Crisis negotiators are brought in at the very end when officers go through evolution with crisis intervention training," Lt. JD Burrell, crisis negotiator commander for the Knoxville Police Department, said."And do de-escalation techniques that they're trained at very end, to have someone in imminent harm way of themselves or others and the negotiators come in and try to continue that."
Knoxville Police said its crisis negotiation team has responded to six calls so far this year and 14 last year.