First police Crisis Team to graduate

Charles Kelley was out of his mind.

On a mid-January afternoon, Kelley scaled up some scaffolding outside City Hall.

He busted through a window, rummaged through several offices, scrawled religious rhetoric on the walls and made off with an 8-inch cake knife.

The following morning, Kelley, 26, confronted some cops in Center City, shouting "Kill me!" as he lunged at them with the knife.

When a taser gun failed to subdue him, the cops were forced to fatally shoot Kelley, making him the seventh deranged person to be shot and killed by Philadelphia police since 2000.

Mental health experts cried foul, insisting there is a better way to handle stand-offs with mentally unstable people. Police officials evidently agree.

Today, the department will graduate the first class of its Crisis Intervention Team.

Twenty cops from East Division, which encompasses parts of North Philly and Kensington, volunteered to be a part of the pilot program.

Ultimately, police officials say 20 to 25 percent of uniformed patrol cops from East Division will complete a four-day training session that will teach them techniques to help relieve tense situations involving police and people who have mental illnesses.

Multiple groups have joined the Police Department in developing the program, including: the Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services, the Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Family Training and Advocacy Center for Mental Illness, the University of Pennsylvania, the Police Advisory Commission and Project H.O.M.E. *