May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the City of Erie is highlighting its programs within its police department.
The department is coming up on two years of operating with its crisis intervention team.
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Last year, the unit responded to a total of 3,468 calls for service that ranged from mental health outreaches to welfare checks.
The department also provides services for its own officers, which they said have been very useful.
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“I think it’s something that goes unnoticed. I think it’s something done in a lot of departments. The trend is now to start doing that and to start looking at our own mental health, and to be able to treat the public, and be able to communicate with the public and offer the best services. Sometimes we have to address our own issues that we may have within our own police department. These officers might be going through PTSD or have some sort of outside issues, whether it be marriages or family problems, but they have an outlet now that they can discuss that,” said Amie Russo, lieutenant of the Erie City Police…