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‘Trying to relate’: An exercise in empathy trains Utah police officers how to respond to mental-health crises

When two police officers walked into the room, she told them her upstairs neighbor had been filming her with infrared cameras that revealed her naked body beneath her clothes so that he could post pornography of her online for the world to see.

So did the officers, attendees of the Crisis Intervention Team Academy, who on Thursday were practicing how to better respond to people experiencing mental health crises.

With therapists, social workers and experienced police officers watching nearby to evaluate, the scene was reset and the next three recruits came into the room to try the simulation.