McHenry County Sheriff's Office Awarded $17.5 K in Grants

From the McHenry County Sheriff's Office: The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday that it has been awarded a $17,500 grant from the McHenry County Community Foundation to purchase Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) and train deputies in Crisis Intervention Training (CIT).

The purchase of the Automatic External Defibrillators will allow for every deputy working to have an AED in their squad car. Many times deputies arrive on scene prior to fire and EMS and this will allow them to initiate life saving measures sooner if they are warranted.

“My most sincere thanks to the McHenry County Community Foundation for their assistance in these two critical tasks,” Sheriff Bill Prim said in announcing the grant. “It would be difficult to identify areas where financial assistance would as easily and directly translate into improvement of the health and welfare of our county.”

The CIT program is a statewide program designed to train police officers about interacting with people living with mental illness. The program provides 40 hours of specialized training that teaches law enforcement officers how to recognize and interact with the mentally ill in order to maximize safety for all during crisis incidents.

Photo courtesy of McHenry County Sheriff's Office