(Beaver Dam) The Beaver Dam Police Department is stressing the importance of mental health both inside and outside the law enforcement world. Officer Joseph Salazar says there are plenty of resources available.
“The department itself has employee assistance programming, which is the availability to get counseling to talk to somebody if they need [it],” says Salazar. “We have peer support officers, which it’s the same thing, just with somebody that you know.”
Salazar says law enforcement normally gets involved when the individual is past the “I need help” stage and commits a harmful act or makes a harmful statement.
“We get involved to try and figure out what happened, what was said,” Salazar says. “A lot of times it involves our friends at fire and EMS, or at the emergency room.”
The officer says then law enforcement goes through contacts that are known by the public to get help and resources.
