Chief James Sartell is pleased to report that Townsend Police Officer Michael Marchand recently graduated from Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training held at the Littleton Police Department and sponsored by the Community Outreach Initiative Network (COIN) program.
Officer Marchand completed 40 hours of training to learn how to better handle calls involving individuals who suffer from mental health and/or substance misuse disorders and who may be in crisis. The goal of CIT training is to provide better outcomes for these crisis calls.
More information on CIT can be found here.
“Calls involving substance misuse or mental health are among the most challenging that our officers will respond to,” Chief Sartell said. “By completing this training, Officer Marchand will be better equipped to respond to such calls. And he will bring these lessons and strategies back to the Department, helping us work toward more positive results.”
Officer Marchand serves as a field training officer, training new officers in all parts of their job. He also coordinates the Department’s revamped internship program, recently working with two Fitchburg State University students in its criminal justice program.
Officer Marchand joined the Townsend Police Department in 2015. His father, James Marchand, retired from the Department in 2019 after 30 years of dedicated service.
Training was made possible through a technical assistance grant funded by the Collaborative Reform Initiative Technical Assistance Center (CRI-TAC), a program of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Anyone who is struggling with mental health issues or substance misuse issues – or knows somebody who is – should call COIN at 508-488-5072. Someone will call back within one business day.
About COIN
The Northwest Middlesex County Community Outreach Initiative Network (COIN) is a collaboration among 10 police departments — Pepperell, Ashby, Townsend, Groton, Shirley, Ayer, Boxborough, Dunstable, Westford and Littleton – committed to addressing mental health issues and substance abuse disorders in their communities. COIN is coordinated through the Pepperell Police Department.
Through its partnership with Family Continuity, a local mental health provider, COIN has brought in a mental health clinician to assist the departments with finding help for their residents in need and diverting them from the criminal justice system.
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