As police officers are often the first on scene and encounter individuals under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or underlying mental health condition, the Monmouth Police Department is becoming involved with the West Central Illinois Recovery-Oriented System of Care explains Communications Director Ken Helms:
“What it is, it is a program to help sustain the community culture that promotes the need to recovery through training and education. That applied to alcohol and substance use recovery. A lot of times the police are some of the first contacts on that, so if they can get involved in this type of program to help promote this type of recovery, hopefully that is a good thing for the community.”
Meanwhile, firefighters at the Monmouth Fire Department have undergone auto extrication training and Captains Peeler and Cozadd recently attended an Advanced Fire Officer training at the Illinois Fire Service Institute in Champaign to gain supervisory skills in overseeing multiple fire stations. Chief Casey Rexroat was also sworn into the IFCA executive board as an Area Representative during the 70th annual Illinois Fire Chief’s Association Conference.