Baltimore Police Has A Special Team That Works With People In Crisis

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore City Police Department's Crisis Response Team rescued a man who had climbed the Howard Street Bridge on Tuesday afternoon.

Police said the man made his way to the very top of the bridge, and when they arrived on scene, he told them he was planning to commit suicide.

The team on scene included Morgan Gregg, a licensed social worker, and three other police officers who are specifically trained to respond to situations in which someone is in crisis.

With help from the Baltimore Fire Department, Gregg and her responding officers climbed the ladder of a fire truck where they staged an intervention after the man told them he had thoughts of jumping- and this wasn't his first attempt.

"When I went up this time, I was able to say, 'Sir, do you remember me"? Gregg said. "He said, 'Yeah, I remember you' and he said, 'Good, I know someone is here to help me.'"

Over the course of the conversation, the man agreed to climb down.

"Just having someone who is not going to judge them or try to solve the problem for them, but just listen and validate, 'yeah, that does sound really scary' or 'I would be stressed out too' does wonders," Gregg said.

One of the jobs of the Crisis Response Team is to connect people to the resources they need. In this case, they helped the man check himself into a hospital for evaluation.

"We have a multitude of things that we train for, and now that mental health is being brought to the surface, it's important that officers have the training and connect the person to the resources they need" Crisis Response Team Sgt. Thomas Smith said.

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