Freedom of Information Act on the Richmond Police Department proved fruitful. A package came awhile back with the training materials and manual for how RPD handles the mentally ill.

As of June 24, 2011 we requested copies of training manuals and materials through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) regarding:

-“entry level training in recognizing and handling persons suffering from  mental illnesses” that members of the Richmond Police Department receive and the -“refresher training courses” that members of the Richmond Police Department receive “at least every three years.”

At this link  you can find copies of the FOIA request emails sent up through July 12th.

From a previous FOIA request, the Handling Mentally Ill Persons protocol for the Richmond Police Department states that the above training is conducted in conjunction with the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority.

I cannot stress how important this document is to members of our community. These are official Richmond Police Department documents on how RPD goes about “Handling Mentally Ill Persons”

Transparency is awesome, and so is FOIA. Reportback to come later once all the documents are scanned and uploaded. What are they actually being trained? Stay tuned…