Six Day School Resource Officer Program October 5, 6, 7, 12, 13, and 14, 2010

Wethersfield Police Department Instructor Bios and Outline

Piszchala Associates, LLC “Training people to stay safe in emergency situations”

Day One – Tuesday, 10/5/10

School Based Policing Overview will include and overview of “Connectedness” and dignity in the schools, the history of TRIAD, the roles and responsibilities of an SRO, setting boundaries with students, being a positive role model and SRO’s as mentors.

Officer Caleb Lopez, (CTSRO, Inc.

South Windsor Police)

Relevant Laws Part One: Officers will receive a juvenile law review as well as relevant information concerning the mandated reporting law, teen driving laws, underage drinking and laws regarding information sharing.

Attorney Fran Carino

Day Two – Wednesday, 10/6/10 Understanding the Teen Brain

Teen Brain: Officers will learn practical tactics for promoting youths’ compli-ance with officer requests and commands, practical tactics for developing rela-tionships with youth, key characteristics of adolescent development and psychol-ogy to place conduct of youth in behavioral context, how to recognize teen con-duct reflecting mental health issues, how certain societal pressures are more in-tensely experienced by adolescents and reflected in their behavior, how to ad-dress the racial stereotypes and anti-authoritarians views teens bring to their in-teractions with police. Interactive role play will be included in this segment in partnership with YDTRC/The Consultation Center.

Lisa Thurau, Esquire and Dr. Jeff Bostic,

(Strategies for Youth) Youth Development Training

and Resource Center/The Consultation Center New Haven YMCA

Youth Center Original Works, Inc., Bridgeport

Teen Suicide: Officers will be able to identify causal factors for suicide, identify signs of suicide risk, suicide patterns, intervention procedures, the difference between self-injury and suicidal gestures, understand what depression is and the contributing facts towards youth suicide.

Louise Pyers, M.S.

(CABLE, Inc.)

Emergency Mobile Psychiatric Services (EMPS) Info-Line “211”: Officers will learn who can receive EMPS, Goals of EMPS; EMPS as an alternative to Emergency Room and Police, Components of EMPS, What to Expect, When to Call, When Not to Call.

Dr. Robert Plant (DCF)

Day Three – Thursday, 10/7/10 Prevention, Intervention and Other Strategies

Gender Responsive Strategies (Dealing With Female Youth) Who are the girls that end up in the Juvenile Justice System? What is the pathway and how can you assist in changing the pathway to the adult correctional system? We will discuss girls with mental health issues and girls exposed to trauma; how these girls will look and respond in the local education system. We will discuss best approaches in working with this population; the relational approach that works without the risks often associated.

Tammy Sneed (DCF)

Juvenile Crisis Intervention and De-Escalations Techniques: Officers will be offered proven and effective verbal techniques and strategies to intervene at each stage of a child’s crisis cycle, how to process an incident with a child that helps build relationships (life space interview) and tips on how to deal with the Opposi-tional and Defiant Child.

Walt Piszchala

(Piszchala & Associates)

Coaching With a Cause will explore the positive effects that result from coach-ing youth sports in teaching student athletes to learn valuable life lessons and how to transfer this philosophy into “life-coaching” approach that will work in sports or other interaction with youth.

Sgt. David Burs (Ret.) Trooper Mark Gendron

(CSP)

Looking At Youth On the Other Side of the Juvenile Justice System: This section will focus on the negative impact that entering the juvenile justice system has on youth and tips on how to reduce the school to prison pipeline.

Jon Gill (Children’s

Community Programs)

Day Four – Tuesday, 10/12/10 School Safety

Gangs:

Captain Kelvan Kearse (Windsor P.D.)

Internet Safety Issues in School: Internet basics, social networking, resources for law enforcement, being a resource for the school, students and community.

Officer Caleb Lopez (CTSRO, Inc.

South Windsor P.D.)

Substance Abuse: Prescription medication abuse is a serious and expanding problem among youth. This section will explore the most commonly abused pharmaceuticals and club drugs, as well as how youth are using the internet to share information regarding drug use, supply and “new ideas”. Officers will be given material to assist them in recognizing recent drug trends, paraphernalia and the physical symptoms/effects on youth.

Trooper Christopher

Bartolotta

Disaster, Trauma and Emergency Response and Security Awareness in the School Environment: Provides SRO with specific skills, reinforcing their abil-ity to identify suspicious activity that could lead to a emergency event and with the knowledge to respond to a crisis and trauma event in a school environment. Successful completion provides an understanding of the immediate actions to appropriately respond to a crisis incident with the understanding and implemen-tation of NIMS- National Incident Management System.

Detective Anthony Davila (AT4LEO)

Day Five – Wednesday, 10/13/10 Bullying

Bullying Behavior, Diversity and Cultural Competence, High Risk Groups: Officers will discuss issues surrounding stereotyping, hate and prejudice as it relates to race, ethnicity, gender and orientation, as well as barriers to cross-cultural communication. Bullying, school climate and "connectedness" will be covered. The effects of bullying on youth, practical intervention techniques and tips on preventing bullying will be covered.

Dr. Jo Ann Freiberg (State Dept. of Education)

Robin McHaelen, M.S. (True Colors, Inc.)

Captain Kelvan Kearse (Windsor P.D.)

Day Six – Thursday, 10/14/10 Relevant Laws Part Two

School Administration, Parents and Community Relevant Laws Part Two: Officers will learn police/school limits of authority and good practices in detention, arrest, interrogation, searches, force and technol-ogy privacy as well good policies and practices to employ.

Attorney Elliot B. Spector (Spector Training)

City of Meriden Guest Panel: Our guest panel from the City of Meriden will share strategies for developing successful partnerships between the police and the school communities. An emphasis will be placed on the relationship between the SRO and the building principal. When police personnel and educators share their expertise and knowledge, students are best served, education is enhanced, and communities are strengthened. This engaging presentation will include power-point, video, and lively discussion.

Dr. Mark Benigni (Superintendent of Meriden

Schools) Lt. Sal Nesci

(Meriden PD) Donna Mik

Principal, Platt High School Ofc. Katherine Maldanado

SRO, Platt High School Parents, Teachers and SRO’s as Allies in Partnership: This segment will assist officers within the school community to better understand the early warn-ing signs of mental illnesses in children and adolescents. It suggests ways to in-tervene so that youth with mental health treatment needs are linked with services and how schools can best communicate with families about mental health related concerns.

NAMI, CT

Mark D. Benigni, Ed.D., Superintendent of Meriden Public Schools

In 2001 Dr. Benigni received his Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and in 1996 his Masters of Arts Degree in Special Edu-cation, both at the University of Hartford. In 1993 he received his Bachelor’s of Business Administration in Management from WCSU. Dr. Benigni served his community and youth in his roles as Special Education Teacher at Orville H. Platt High School in Meriden from 1996-2000, Assistant Principal of Berlin High School from 2000-2008, Principal of Cromwell High School from 2008-2010, and as Mayor of the City of Meriden from 2001-2008. He is currently the Superintendant of Schools in Meriden. Dr. Benigni has published various articles including “The Need for

School Resource Officers”, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, May 2004, “When Cops Go To School”, Principal Leadership, January 2004 and “Need for SRO’s on the Rise”, Connecticut Police Chief, Vol. 19, No. 2, Autumn 2002. In 2008 Dr. Benigni was named one of Ten Outstanding Young Americans (TOYA) by the Na-tional Junior Chamber of Commerce.

Trooper Christopher M. Bartolotta

Mr. Bartolotta has been employed in the field of law enforcement since 1990. During most of his police career, Mr. Bartolotta has been actively involved in the critical issue of Underage Drinking. He has served on the Governor’s Task Force Against Drunk Driving; the Governor’s Task Force Against Underage Drinking; the Lt. Governor’s Task Force for Enforcing Drunk Driving; the presentation committee for the annual Drunk/Drugged Driving Conference (held in Newport, RI) and is presently a member of the Executive Committee of Connecticut Coalition Against Underage Drinking. He currently lectures throughout the state on a variety of subject matter pertaining to Underage Drinking. Since 1995, Mr. Bartolotta has been a consultant for the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. He is a national instructor on underage drinking and has assisted in the publication of two manuals used for law enforcement training. In addition, Mr. Bartolotta has lectured sev-eral times at the Institute’s National Leadership Conference. In addition to his vast experience in the field of law enforcement and numerous civic contribu-tions, Mr. Bartolotta has been recognized and has received numerous awards for his accom-plishments, which includes a DARE Outstanding Student Leadership Award, several MADD high activity/appreciation/education awards, a Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission Apprecia-tion award, a CSP Troop “L” High DWI activity award, two Commissioner Top 20 shooting awards, an Outstanding Leadership award for efforts regarding Underage Drinking and CSP Department awards for Bravery, Meritorious Service, Life Saving and a two Unit Citations. He was recently recognized by the CT Exchange Club as its “Police Officer of the Year” recipient. Lastly, he was a finalist for the MADD National President’s Award, the highest form of praise from this national organization.

Dr. Jo Ann Freiberg , State Dept. of Education Jo Ann Freiberg is an Educational Consultant with the Connecticut State Department of Education working with the Bureau of Accountability and Improvement. She man-ages the wide arena of Bullying, Improving School Climate and Character Education. She has worked as a classroom teacher and as a teacher educator, and has held faculty ap-pointments at a number of universities, including Central Connecticut State University, Eastern Connecticut State University, the University of Hartford and the University of Connecticut. Dr. Freiberg holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of education from Ohio State University, and her areas of academic teaching and research include moral and char-acter education, educational studies, professional ethics and multicultural education. She has served on the statewide task force on bullying, was the Keynote Speaker for the March 2008 Governor’s School and College Security Conference and has served as an educational consult-ant in a variety of settings both in Connecticut and nationally.

Robin P. McHaelen, MSW, True Colors, Inc. Robin P. McHaelen is the founder and current Executive Director of True Col-ors, Inc. Sexual Minority Youth and Family Services, a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization that works to create a world where youth, adults and families of all sexual orientations and gender identities are valued and affirmed. Robin is the author of several articles on LGBT youth concerns and is the recipient of numerous awards including most recently, the 2009 Hartford Courant/Fox 61 Tapestry Award, the 2008 National Education Association’s Virginia Uribe Award for Creative Leadership in Human Rights and the 2008 Social Worker of the Year (National Association of Social Workers, CT Chapter).

Captain Kelvan Kearse, Windsor Police Department

Lisa H. Thurau, Esquire, Strategies for Youth

Attorney Thurau is a graduate of Barnard College and holds a Masters degree in Anthropology from Columbia University. She graduated from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University in 1991. Before becoming an attorney, Lisa worked as a researcher and advocate for reform and improve-ment of the public education system in New York City. She worked as an Associate in the litigation department of Coudert Brothers, an international law firm on copyright and commer-cial litigation matters.

From 1999 to 2008, Lisa served as policy specialist and then as Managing Director of the Juvenile Justice Center of Suffolk Law School. There, Lisa focused on public policy advocacy on

behalf of court-involved teens. She monitored juveniles' civil rights issues regarding police treatment, tracked trends in the Center's cases, monitored and challenges legislation affecting youth in the juvenile justice system.

In 2004, Lisa initiated a training initiative with 180 officers in the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) Transit Police to improve police/youth interactions, to increase officers’ skills in working with youth, and to support officers’ development of innovative approaches to policing large groups of teens in public transit areas. She conducted a training over with 100 officers in Everett Police Department. Her assessment and training of 235 officers in Cam-bridge Police Department led to a reorganization of the way the Department provides services to youth.

Dr. Jeff Q. Bostic, Strategies for Youth

Dr. Jeff Q. Bostic holds a medical degree from Texas University School of Medicine, and per-formed his residency at the Timberlawn Psychiatric Hospital. Dr. Bostic is the Director of the School Psychiatry Program for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Bostic also served as Medical Director of the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Ac-cess Project, in which psychiatrists were on call to assist pediatricians at the MGH site.

Dr. Bostic’s www.schoolpsychiatry.org website to advance service collaboration among clini-cians, educators, and families for recognizing and working with children with behavioral and mental health issues in schools. To date, Dr. Bostic has served as a consulting psychiatrist to the Andover, Boston City-on-the-Hill Charter School, Lexington, Lowell, Silver Lake, Wellesley, West-wood, Winchester School District, Lowell School Districts.

Dr. Bostic has been a member of the Child Psychiatry Residency Training Committee for MGH and McLean Hospital since 1997. Dr. Bostic served as the training psychiatrist for the police train-ing initiatives of Strategies for Youth with the MBTA Transit Po-lice in Boston, the Cambridge Police Department, the Everett Po-lice Department.

Detective Anthony Davila, AT4LEO

Anthony Davila is a graduate of the US Air Force Special Operations School’s Dynamics of International Terrorism and was honorably discharged from the US Navy as a Coxswain, Master at Arms 1st Class. He has been called to military duty for the following cam-paigns: Global War on Terrorism, Operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom and has honorably served with the Naval Coastal Warfare Group, IBU 28. Mr. Davila has over 15 years of law enforcement experience as a police officer, detective, police instruc-tor and as Peace Officer with the New York City Health & Hospitals Corporation. Mr. Davila is a POST Instructor and Navy Instructor (NEC 9202) and is a certified Terrorist Liaison Officer.

Mr. Davila specializes in Anti Terrorism Training and performed criminal investigation duties, taught at the State Police Training Academy and conducted several public seminars. Mr. Davila maintains a membership with the International Counter-Terrorism Officer Association, I.C.T.O.A

Louise C. Pyers, M.S., B.C.E.T.S, CABLE, NAMI

Louise is the Executive Director of the Connecticut Alliance to Benefit Law Enforcement, (CABLE), a grass roots research and education collaborative made up of police practitioners, mental health professionals and persons living with mental illness to ad-dress common issues related to mental health. CABLE is funded by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to provide Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) trainings to law enforce-ment professionals across the state of Connecticut and to provide Peer Support Training for the CT State Police State Troopers Of-fering Peer Support (STOPS) program. Louise holds a Master’s degree in Community Psychology and Counseling and is board certi-fied by the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress. She is POST certified to teach Stress Management, Suicide Intervention and Assessment, and Policing Citizens with Special Needs. Louise has presented and conducted workshops on Suicide by Cop and Statewide Imple-mentation of Crisis Intervention Teams at regional, national and international conferences in-cluding the International Association of Chiefs of Police Annual Conference. She serves on several advisory boards and commissions. She is a published author and has been featured pro-moting CIT via several media outlets. Louise is also employed as the Criminal Justice Project Director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Connecticut where she devotes her time to work with the civilian mental health infrastructure and families whose loved ones are involved in the criminal justice system.

David E. Burs, Sgt. Ret. Stratford P.D.

A Connecticut resident since 1962, David is a product of the Stratford public school system playing varsity sports (football, basketball, and baseball) as well as all league in football and returned to coach women's basketball and football as well as Pop Warner football. A May 2009 graduate of Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York, with a Masters of Science degree in Health Science (Exercise Physiology), he achieved high honors and a citation as top clinician. Mr. Burs attended the University of Connecticut, Storrs, playing divi-sion one football in 1976 and 1977 and graduated with a dual B.A. in

Political Science and History with a minor in English composition (1980). David began his law enforcement career in 1981 with the Stratford Police Department, was pro-moted to corporal in 1987 and sergeant in 1991, and recently retired. Since 1970, David has incorporated his love for sports and the martial arts into his police train-ing. In 2007, David volunteered for a clinical program which dealt with scientific learning trials for creating main stream behaviors in teen and young adults with severe aggression due to Au-tism Spectrum Behaviors entitled On Your Mark, Inc. While there, he implemented programs designed to calm aggressive behavior through sports and exercise, as well as teaching computer and photography skills to high functioning Asperger and Savant clients. David currently uses these same techniques when he develops training programs in the martial arts for youth who act out violently.

Elliot B. Spector, Esquire Elliot B. Spector is a graduate of the University of Connecticut, Uni-versity of Hartford and University of Connecticut School of Law and was admitted to the Bar in 1981. Mr. Spector was also a distin-guished graduate of the US Air Force School of Military Science, and was honorably discharged from the Air Force as a 1st Lieutenant. Mr. Spector has over thirty-five years of law enforcement experience as a police officer, police instructor and an attorney representing the law enforcement community. Mr. Spector is a professor at the Uni-versity of Connecticut concentrating on Civil Rights and Criminal Justice Courses. Mr. Spector specializes in Police Civil Liability In 1989 Mr. Spector was retained by the State of Connecticut to develop the state model policy on handling juveniles. He conducted train the trainer programs for juvenile officers in the model policy and has conducted juvenile training for patrol officers in review training courses. Mr. Spector is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police Juvenile Justice Committee and Connecticut School/Police Task Group of the Juvenile Justice Advisory Com-mittee. Mr. Spector has been an associate professor at the University of Connecticut developing and teaching on-line courses related to criminal justice teaching courses on Leadership and Ethics in Law Enforcement; Constitutional Law, Civil Rights and Public Safety Liability.

Francis Carino, Esquire

Involved in the prosecution of juveniles in Connecticut for over thirty years, Fran Carino has been employed by the Division of Criminal Justice since 1996. He is currently working as a Supervi-sory Assistant State's Attorney in the Chief State's Attorney's Office in Rocky Hill. He was the first full time juvenile prosecutor ap-pointed in Connecticut and served as the State's Chief Juvenile Prosecutor from 1979 to 1996. Fran has developed numerous pro-grams used for training thousands of state and municipal police of-ficers and recruits as well as juvenile probation officers, detention

workers and judges. He has spoken about the juvenile court process to school administrators, staff and students from elementary school level to law school. He has also made presentations about the Connecticut juvenile justice system at national conferences in Alabama, Maryland and Oklahoma. Fran teaches an online class on the subject of Juvenile Justice Issues for Public Safety Officers at the University of Connecticut and has taught classes on various juvenile jus-tice issues at Manchester Community College and Northwestern Community College. He is responsible for authoring the Connecticut version of the "Play By The Rules" publication on the Connecticut legal system for middle school students. He works with several police de-partments and youth service bureaus around the State to establish Juvenile Review Board diver-sion programs and has served on the Andover, Hebron and Marlborough Juvenile Review Board for over fifteen years. He serves on several administrative and legislative boards and committees addressing juvenile justice issues.

Officer Caleb Lopez President, CTSROA, Inc. South Windsor Police Department Officer Lopez has been employed as a South Windsor police offi-cer since 2002 and has been assigned as the School Resource Offi-cer for the Timothy Edwards Middle School since 2008. He re-ceived his M.Ed. In Educational Technology in 2004 at the Uni-versity of Hartford. Prior to his employment as a police officer, Officer Lopez was the Director of Technology at Watkinson School from 1999-2002 where in addition to his vast responsibili-ties for all aspects of technology, he trained students and faculty in usage of computer hardware and software and sat on the Connecticut Association of Independ-ent Schools Technology Committee. From 2000-2002 he was a Staff Instructor at the Univer-sity of Hartford. From 1997-2002 he was an Instructor at CASI Summer Technology Institute where he was responsible for teaching various courses designed for teacher professional devel-opment including Curriculum Integration of Technology and Web Design. From 1995-1999 he was an Associate Technology Coordinator at Loomis Chaffee School where he was responsible for training students and faculty in usage of computer hardware and software. Officer Lopez has been the President of the Connecticut School Resource Officers Association since 2008.

Walt Piszchala, Piszchala Associates, LLC The Connecticut Department of Children and Families employed Walt Pisz-chala for 33 years (now retired), working with children in a variety of capaci-ties, in residential care. For 27 of those years Walt worked as a trainer in the field of Crisis Interven-tion and Health and Safety, teaching both verbal and physical intervention technique and CPR, AED, First Aid, Blood Borne Pathogens. Walt retired from the Connecticut Juvenile Training School as a full-time training coordi-nator. His main focus had been in the development and implementation of a comprehensive behavior management and crisis intervention program. In addition, he was responsible for developing, training, and monitoring all Health and Safety Programs for the staff at CJTS. From 1997 to 2006 Walt was an adjunct staff trainer at the DCF Training Academy. He was responsible for creating a curriculum entitled "Worker Safety". Walt personally trained every new social worker hired during this time period in this course to help them identify escalating behavior, how to appropri-ately and effectively de-escalate that behavior and how to develop safe working habits and strategies to stay safe when visiting with clients in their homes. Walt was called upon to consult with other State and private agencies regarding issues involving Crisis Intervention and Physical Restraint. In 1998, Walt served on the Physical Behavioral Task Force for the Connecticut Department of Children and Families, established by then Governor John Roland. Walt was the chairperson for the sub-committee for curriculum development. This task force developed regulations and guidelines for issues regarding physical restraint and seclusion for the State of Connecticut. Since retiring in January of 2007, Walt has become a member of the training faculty for the Connecticut Association of Foster and Adoptive Parents. He is offering courses in Verbal De-Escalation and working with Oppositional and Defiant Children.

Tammy M. Sneed, DCF Ms. Sneed is the Director of Girls' Services and the Director of Congregate Care for the Bureau of Juve-nile Services within the Department of Children and Families. With 18-years of experience, a national expert on Gender-Responsive Programming for adolescent girls, she specializes in programming for youth in the legal system. Tammy developed the first gender-responsive residential program for girls on parole; designed to return girls typically adjudicated with status offenses back to their communities. Tammy has developed a continuum of services for girls committed delinquent to DCF including com-munity based services as well as residential treatment programs with varied levels of security. Also a foster/ adoptive mother she has trained in various programming components with specialized training for mentors, foster and adoptive parents and serves as a mentor for forever families. She has developed and implemented a training model training local and state police departments on how to work with adoles-cent girls with a focus on trauma; result was the virtual elimination of arrests in a highly secure residen-tial program for girls. In collaboration with CSSD Tammy has lead DCF in the development of a set of female-responsive program guidelines to guide providers in working with the identified population and sharing common language and practice with multiple state and private providers. Tammy is the founder and former president of The Children's League of Connecticut and developer of the Middle Manager Training and Support Network within the private provider community.

NAMI - Connecticut (NAMI-CT) NAMI-CT is the only state organization affiliated with the nation’s leading grassroots family and con-sumer organization – the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). NAMI is dedicated to the eradi-cation of mental illness and to the improvement of the quality of life of all who are affected by serious mental illnesses. NAMI-CT offers support, education and advocacy to people living with serious mental illnesses, family members, friends, professionals and the public at large. One of NAMI’s programs, Parents and Teachers as Allies, is a two-hour in-service training that helps school professionals and families within the school community better understand the early warning signs of mental illnesses in children and adolescents. It suggests ways to intervene so that youth with mental health treatment needs are linked with services and how schools can best communicate with families about mental health related concerns. A person with mental illness also shares the human side of living with mental illness. This program is designed for teachers, administrators, school health professionals, parents and others in urban, suburban, rural, and culturally diverse school communities.”

Youth Development Training & Resource Center (YDRTC)/The Consultation Center, Inc. YDTRC worked with professional evaluator Jessica Sanderson, MA, MFT, to develop a set of youth dis-cussion group questions on police-youth relations, which were then piloted in 5 communities across Con-necticut throughout fall/winter 2009. Ms. Sanderson also developed evaluation surveys, which were ad-ministered to youth who participated in mini-grant projects and to a comparison group of youth, in order to measure the project’s impact on youth’s perceptions and feelings about, and relationships with, police. YDTRC works with youth leaders, agency providers, funders and resource agencies to assure a youth voice in the planning, development , funding, staff training and evaluation of youth programs in Connecti-cut. For information, see their website at www.theconsultationcenter.org/YDTRC. Youth participating in this training include youth leaders and adult advisors from New Haven YMCA Youth Center and Original Works, Inc., Bridgeport, CT. Connecticut Alliance to Benefit Law Enforcement, Inc. (CABLE) CABLE is a grass-roots, non-profit research and training collaborative who’s mission is to serve as an interdisciplinary catalyst for law enforcement and community collaboration, support and education. Mental health is the cornerstone of CABLE’s training programs and services which are offered by an interdisciplinary team including seasoned law enforcement professionals and mental health providers. CABLE has two main training tracks: Safe and effective law enforcement and community response to persons in psychiatric crisis through Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training; Peer Support Training for law enforcement officers. CABLE has trained over 1000 members of municipal, state and federal law enforcement agencies in the Crisis Intervention Team model and provided Peer Support Training for municipal agencies and the CT State Police State Troopers Offering Peer Support (STOPS) Program.

Robert W. Plant, Ph.D., DCF Bert Plant, is a licensed clinical psychologist and Director of Be-havioral Health Programs and Services at DCF. He earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the University of Roch-ester and completed his doctoral fellowship at Yale University Medical School. Over the course of his career he has provided and managed most levels of care including private practice, outpatient clinic, partial hospital, intensive in-home services, assessment and consultation to school systems, residential treatment and psychiat-ric hospital care for children and youth. Dr. Plant is a frequent lec-turer and writer. His most recent publications concern the mental health needs of children in foster care and residential treatment of adolescent substance abuse.

John W. Gill, Children’s Community Programs Mr. Gill has been working in the juvenile justice arena for over 18 years dealing primarily with paroled adolescents returning to their communities from secure settings. He is has extensive knowledge in the area of programming for the inner city adjudicated youth having worked as a direct care worker, a supervisor and currently as a Director of Juvenile Justice programming for a private non-profit organization. Mr. Gill worked very closely with local and state govern-ment officials in Connecticut’s effort to reintegrate 16 and 17 years old back into the juvenile justice system and prepare that system for the new legislation.

Trooper Mark Gendron, CSP Trooper Gendron has been a police officer for approximately 18 1/2 years, 12 as a Connecticut State Trooper and 6 1/2 years as a local officer in the Town of Colchester. He is currently a Resident Trooper in the Town of Hebron, where he has been assigned for over 3 years. Trooper Gendron has been an instructor since 1994 and has taught classes in Pepper Spray, Handgun Retention and Defensive Tactics, and currently teaches a class called “Effective Police Interac-tions With Youth” for the JJAC. Mark coaches at RHAM High School where he is the Fresh-men Football Coordinator and an Assistant Varsity Football Coach. RHAM High School is a regional high school serving three towns and is one of four schools in Hebron that his office is responsible for. Mark was a collegiate swimmer at Southern Connecticut State University graduating in 1991 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science.