Camden County Sheriff Elaborates On Emotional Response Trainings

It’s a situation we hear more and more about in the news, locally and beyond…law enforcement responding to a mental health crisis.

It’s also a reason the Camden County Sheriff’s Office recently hosted continuing education for deputies and other staff so, what might appear to be, a routine call doesn’t end in tragedy for anyone involved.

“You got to understand, you know, a lot of times we get called to someone’s home or to a business, and someone is having an episode, and they may behaving one of the worst days of their lives. And so when we get on scene, we need to make sure that our people are equipped to recognize when someone is having a mental health crisis and to kind of know, you know, what questions to ask.”

Sergeant Scott Hines also says, so far this year alone, deputies have responded to over 100 calls involving emotionally disturbed persons.

In 2022, the final year-end number of similar calls ended up being over 300.

Representatives from Compass Health led the recent training for the Camden County Sheriff’s Office.