A 911 dispatcher who helped a suicidal caller and a police officer who assisted a juvenile during a mental health crisis were recently honored by Centre County.
Trevor Harris from Centre County 9-1-1 and State College Police Lt. Todd Scholton were recognized as CIT Officers of the Year during an Oct. 25 Board of Commissioners meeting.
Since 2012, the county’s Crisis Intervention Team has presented the award to one sworn-in officer and one nonsworn, CIT trained individual with the awards.
“Our CIT steering committee believe it is of great importance to recognize the demanding work our law enforcement officers and other individuals who work in tandem as part of mental health crisis response do in a daily basis,” said CIT team coordinator Tracy Small while presenting the awards.
“They are often called upon for the most challenging and complex mental health crisis calls and do so routinely with dignity and respect for the individual in crisis.”
Harris received the award for his response after receiving a call from an individual who was depressed and having thoughts of suicide. Harris remained on the line with the caller until police arrived seven minutes later, reassuring the person that help was on the way.
“During his time on the call, PST Harris used his CIT skills to show empathy toward the individual and quickly established trust and a positive rapport with the individual by telling him he was glad he made the choice to call 911,” said Small. She added that he encouraged open dialogue and listened without judgment as the caller opened up to him, while also assuring the caller that services are available to help.
Scholton was awarded for his response to a juvenile who was on the ledge of a parking garage, prepared to jump. The juvenile would not speak to other first responders until Scholton arrived.
“When Lt. Scholton first began engaging with the juvenile, he was about 15 feet away from the individual.
Over the course of the next 25 minutes, Lt. Scholton was able to, very slowly, close the distance between himself and the juvenile in crisis. During this time, Lt. Scholton established trust and displayed considerable empathy for this juvenile.
Eventually this juvenile felt so comfortable talking to Lt. Scholton that the juvenile disclosed previous suicide attempts and at that point began to reposition at the ledge of parking garage, in what appeared to be a preparation to jump,” said Small.
Because he was able to move close enough to the juvenile, Scholton was able to assist them off of the ledge at that point, “thus saving the individual’s life from what likely would have been a completed suicide.”
“Both public safety telecommunicator Harris and Lt. Scholton are to be commended for their lifesaving efforts and taking time to establish a positive connection with these individuals in crisis, thus displaying their extemporary CIT skills,” said Small.
Harris said he has worked often with Scholton while on night shift at 9-1-1.
“We have had very positive outcomes, so it is very special to have him as a neighbor with me in this award,” said Harris.
This story appears in the Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 2022 edition of The Centre County Gazette.
