Before the Badge: Lubbock Police recruits complete crisis intervention training in final stretch before graduation

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - After six months of balancing their academics, their aim, their fitness and their family, Lubbock Police recruits are just days away from graduating from the academy and hitting the streets. KCBD has followed along the ride for their challenging journey Before the Badge since February.

It’s been nearly 200 days since recruits began the Lubbock Police Academy. While their hard work is starting to pay off, they still have some training left to do.

That training includes crisis intervention. Calls for individuals struggling with their mental health may not be what comes to mind when people think of police work, but unfortunately, officers respond to these calls every day.

“We have multiple calls a day involving people in mental or behavioral health crisis, and this can range many things from like a suicidal subject call to somebody who is just not having a good day and needs a little bit of help,” Corporal Ethan Noble said.

Noble and a civilian mental health co-responder make up LPD’s Crisis Intervention Team. They take recruits through 40 hours of training, including placing them in scenarios they could face on the job.

“I’ll be the first to say that in a perfect world, somebody experiencing a crisis like this would not have to come into contact with law enforcement. Ultimately our goal is to get people like this in front of mental health providers to get them that kind of help they need,” Noble said. “But right now, the way things are is that this is a job that falls on police officers. And so, we as first responders do go to these these kind of incidents. And again, our goal is to try and keep everybody safe.”

Sometimes keeping people safe calls for immediate action. Noble says officers can use any amount of force up until lethal force to effect an emergency detention.

Before working through scenarios, recruits heard from mental health professionals from the community, then practiced what they learned. Noble says all officers go through this kind of training.

Another role in keeping people safe is on the road. Recruits learned how to use their laser to track drivers’ speeds.

“When people see units out here driving around, it’s going to prevent people from driving recklessly and driving more under control at that point. So, you being a site out there on the streets is a big thing they want you to be doing,” recruit Jared Lewis said.

Then recruits really hit the streets, to do one of the most dangerous parts of the job, direct traffic.

Then for maybe their biggest challenge yet, it was time for recruits to take their academy and state final exams, needing to recall nearly 30 weeks of material to earn their Peace Officer license.

“We’ve been in one of the hardest academies around here, so I kind of feel like whenever we pass the test, we’re ready to hit the streets,” recruit Daniel Alcala said.

All seven passed their academy and state finals and will be sworn in to the Lubbock Police Department at 3 p.m. on Friday at Buddy Holly Hall.

“I know I’m going through it, putting the hard work in, passing tests, meeting the mark, meeting the standard. But behind me, there’s also friends, family, kind of along for the ride. Enjoying it themselves, too. So, as I’m taking the victory, they’re also like, ‘Good job. Congratulations.’ So, it’s kind of all coming together at the very end,” recruit Adam Bernal said.