The officers want more opportunities to build relationships with children in the community, preferably when they are in Kindergarten through 2nd grade. These interactions build lasting impressions for kids that the police are on their side and care about their health and safety.

Both the Concord and Kannapolis departments go through extensive training to ensure their officers are prepared to interface with the community as efficiently and effectively as possible.

Both departments appreciate annual CIT training to help prepare officers to interact with individuals who are experiencing a behavioral health crisis. They rely heavily on the support from the Managed Care Organization who provides this training annually.

Officers have noticed an increase in homelessness, which suggests a need for better outreach services.

There is a growing mental health crisis which officers are seeing when they respond to calls. The officers suggested that the community may benefit from a mental health co-responder model.