Court
News Ohio… Annual
Crisis Intervention Award
Named for Justice Stratton By Bret Crow
September 7, 2012
Attorney
General Mike DeWine and
Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton congratulate Columbus
Police
Department Cmdr. Chris Bowling, who received the first Evelyn Lundberg
Stratton
CIT Champion of the Year award on September 5.
An
annual award that recognizes law
enforcement officers who de-escalate crises and handle incidents
involving
persons with mental illness has been named for Ohio Supreme Court
Justice
Evelyn Lundberg Stratton.
Justice
Stratton attended a Crisis
Intervention Team advanced training conference this week in Columbus
and said
she was surprised to learn of the honor.
“I
thought you had to be dead to
have an award named after you,” she said.
Betsy
Johnson, associate executive
director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Ohio, said the
awards
committee considered giving Justice Stratton the first Evelyn Lundberg
Stratton
CIT Champion of the Year award “but it seemed too little given all that
she has
done for the program over the years.
“Instead,
the committee decided to
name the CIT Champion of the Year Award in her honor so year after year
we will
be reminded of her contribution in making Ohio’s one of the best CIT
programs
in the country.”
In
May, Justice Stratton announced
her intention to retire by the end of the year after 16 years of
service on the
Supreme Court.
Justice
Stratton presented the
first award to Columbus Police Department Cmdr. Chris Bowling, who’s
been at
the forefront of CIT in Franklin County since 2003 and assisted many
other
counties in launching CIT programs.
Terry
Russell, NAMI Ohio executive
director, also spoke of Justice Stratton’s impact.
“On
behalf of the over 525,000
Ohioans with serious mental illness and their families whom NAMI Ohio
represents, we are grateful to Justice Stratton for her tireless
efforts to
improve the quality of their lives,” he said. “Naming this award in her
honor
is our way of acknowledging her specifically for being the champion of
Ohio’s
CIT program. Additionally, it will ensure that she is remembered for
her
contribution to this program each and every year when the award is
given to
others who follow in her footsteps.”
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