DURHAM — Durham County Sheriff Mike Andrews is a constant advocate of crisis-intervention training for all law enforcement personnel, and he makes it personal for trainees by sharing a story of his own.
Andrews’ dedication to having the first people on the scene of a crisis understand the situation for the person involved and the people around that person was part of why the National Alliance on Mental Illness’s North Carolina chapter named him Outstanding Law Enforcement Executive of the year at its 2015 annual meeting in February.
Andrews, the group said, “is both passionate and compassionate in his desire to divert people with mental illness from jail.”
His agency has about 120 patrol and detention personnel who have been through the course and aims to have everyone trained, Andrews said.
