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The officer, who had been part of a recent Prosecutor’s Office Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), used the lessons that he learned only weeks earlier to successfully help a person in distress attempting to harm themselves, according to Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey.
On June 29, at 8:58 a.m., Hazlet police received a 9-1-1 call for a person in crisis. The person was in their vehicle threatening to harm themselves and responding officers in the parking lot of a local business. The individual was adamant to dispatchers that they did not want police to respond to the area.
Hazlet Patrolman John Corcione was one of the responders and had recently been an attendee of Crisis Intervention Training that was held at the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office this past May.
Upon arrival at the scene, Officer Corcione began a dialogue with the person who was sitting in their vehicle at the time, holding a weapon. Corcione used skills in de-escalating the situation that he learned in the training class, the prosecutor said. The officer even told the individual about CIT and explained that he was trained to respond to critical incidents to get people to "even better hands" to help, Linskey said.
Corcione successfully convinced the person to drop the weapon, and assisted them in calming down until EMS arrived, Linskey said.
“Officer Corcione did exactly what he was trained to do and his actions in this crisis situation are an incredible, real-world example, of CIT making a difference in the field," Linskey said.
She thanked Corcione, and Hazlet Police Chief Ted Wittke for his strong support of CIT Training, which resumes in October.
Corcione said: “Thankfully this individual and I crossed paths at exactly the right time. Maybe we ended up exactly where we were supposed to be that day, so the individual could get the help that was desperately needed. We just did our job, which is to make sure everyone goes home.”
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