BATTLE CREEK, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — The Battle Creek Police Department, along with Summit Pointe and the Battle Creek Community Foundation, have announced they are receiving a grant of over $1 million from the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to an official press release, the grant funds are meant to fund crisis intervention and victim advocate programs.
One grant, in collaboration with the BCCF, is for $276,000 under the Law Enforcement-Based Victim Specialist Program. This award funds a victim advocate, which is someone who helps victims of violent crime through the criminal justice process.
“Since 2016, BCCF became involved in providing victim supports, as a result of the mass shooting in Kalamazoo involving an Uber driver, with four of the six victims from Battle Creek,” senior vice president of the BCCF Annette Chapman said. “As we have worked in both communities, we identified a large gap in victim services and supports in Battle Creek. The BCPD’s award of this Office of Victim of Crime grant is an outstanding example of community partnering and capacity building that will result in the provision of additional services for the residents of Battle Creek.”
The other grant, in collaboration with Summit Pointe, is for $750,000 under the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program. It will help fund the continuation of the Crisis Intervention Team program, which trains police to best respond to those with a mental illness.
“This grant will allow our CIT program in Calhoun County to expand, with an emphasis on the youth in our community,” CEO of Summit Pointe Jeannie Goodrich said. “CIT-Youth and Mental Health First Aid for Public Safety will assist law enforcement in Calhoun County on the challenge of working with youth in our community that they encounter, with the intention of getting families connected with supportive services offered in our community.”
Battle Creek Police Chief Jim Blocker is also excited for the grants.
“We have great partners in Summit Pointe and our area hospitals, which work with our CIT-trained officers on how to divert people in crises to the help they need, instead of incarceration – which in most cases will not help as intended,” Blocker said of the Crisis Intervention Team. “Since 2017, we have seen a dramatic shift in arrest and use-of-force incidents. Out of nearly 600 CIT-specific calls for service, less than 1 percent were taken to jail; all others were diverted to receive the care they need, even in cases when a crime might have occurred.”
The press release also notes that the successes of the CIT program in Battle Creek and Calhoun County were touted nationwide as part of Battle Creek’s application to, and subsequent win, of the All-America City Award in 2019.
