Program focuses on mental health issues

SUSSEX — The National Alliance on Mental Illness of New Jersey (NAMI-NJ) has developed a training program and video to provide mental illness awareness for law enforcement officers, called “LEEP” (Law Enforcement Education Program), which aims to ensure that police officers and recruits receive up-to-date, comprehensive mental illness education, and to promote cooperation and communication between local criminal justice and mental health systems. An overview of this program will be presented Thursday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Sussex County Community College Student Center Theatre. The free presentation will be offered to family members or other advocates for mentally ill persons who have been involved in the criminal justice system, organizers said. Law enforcement chiefs, supervisors and officers from every town in Sussex County have been invited as well as the County College’s Criminal Justice Department students. Among the panelists will be Collingswood Chief of Police Tom Garrity who has an extensive crisis intervention training program for his police department, and who is featured in the LEEP video. The LEEP program has been successfully implemented in numerous police departments throughout the state, primarily in Union, Camden and Gloucester counties. Pre-registration is requested by calling 973-702-2741, but people may also register at the door, starting at 6:30 p.m.