On Friday, the National Alliance on Mental Illness urged the city to review its officer training programs and involve individuals and families who live with mental illness in the process.
Fullerton officers don't undergo a training program specifically dedicated to dealing with people with mental illness, Goodrich said. The department holds 30-minute in-house briefings before patrol shifts begin and Goodrich said the department would spend several sessions on mental health issues in a six-month period.
About a dozen officers from the 145-member force have received more extensive training on mental health issues. After Thomas' death, the department is taking a closer look at its training program, Goodrich said.
Some agencies send officers to weeklong training courses on the subject. Some programs have been expanded to the state level, such as in Utah, Ohio and Florida, but not in California.
Making the training more realistic – instead of a lecture with Power Point slides – makes a difference, Reuland said.
Trainers have officers wear headsets playing aggressive voices while they perform basic tasks like buying a soda to understand the world from the perspective of someone who is mentally ill.
Actors or mental health professionals simulate real life scenarios officers might face on the beat.
The program dates back more than two decades to Memphis, Tenn., after a police officer fatally shot someone who suffered from mental illness. Since then, crisis intervention teams have been expanded to more than 2,000 locations, said retired police Major Sam Cochran, who helped start the program and is now promoting it nationwide.
In California, police departments in San Jose and Oakland train officers under the program, and San Francisco is developing a team of core officers who can be summoned to respond to someone who is mentally ill.
The Los Angeles Police Department gives all officers an 8-hour training course on mental illness and has given more than 1,000 a more extensive 40-hour training course, said recently retired Capt. Rick Wall, who coordinated the department's mental health program.
The agency also pairs up a plain-clothed officer with a social worker in specialized teams to respond to calls related to mental illness in the hopes of connecting individuals with the services they need – not just locking them up, he said.
The program has been successful and has helped defuse potentially dangerous confrontations, Wall said, but cautioned that training can only go so far.
"The reality is, the best programs, even the best trained officers, will have those encounters with persons whose mental illness is so severe at that particular contact that it is going to be violent," he said. "There is no magic wand."
