Sergeant Phillip Rippinger

DOC CIT Officer - South Central Corrections Center

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Sergeant Phillip Rippinger is a Missouri Department of Corrections CIT Officer at South Central Corrections Center.  Recently he was able to utilize de-escalation and communication skills he learned in Crisis Intervention Teams certification class to potentially prevent a civilian from taking their own life. This is the second time that Sergeant Rippinger was able to assist this individual to seek psychiatric help and prevent self-harming actions. The civilian and Sergeant Rippinger are members of the same church. The civilian sometimes suffers from suicidal thoughts and has bouts of depression when not taking his prescribed medication. Sergeant Rippinger was able to keep this civilian on the phone and talking while also alerting the authorities of the situation. Sergeant Rippinger communicated with the local county sheriff department where they were able to take the civilian into custody and provide further assistance.

Corporal Jason Copeland

Rolla Police Department

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Cpl. Copeland and his shift were working one weekend, and during that time they had two year old die from a heroin over dose, one of the officers neighbors died by suicide. Cpl. Copeland has been an officer for quite a while and he was worried that the officers on his shift were being overwhelmed with all of the tragedy they had experienced. Cpl. Copeland recognized the need and called for assistance to help the officers deal with these tragic events.

Kyle Dooley

Director of CIT Community Policing Programs NAMI-St. Louis

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Kyle Dooley began his law enforcement career in 1999. In 2010 he became the CIT Liaison for Lake St. Louis PD and served as the Training Coordinator for Great Rivers CIT Council from 2012-2016. In December 2016 Kyle accepted a full-time position with NAMI-STL. He facilitates Training Council and Coordinating Council meetings for Great Rivers CIT Council, Franklin County CIT Council, and Jefferson County CIT Council as well as the Training Council for St. Louis Area CIT Council. Kyle serves seven Missouri Counties in the Eastern Region and has helped to facilitate more than 60, 40-hour basic CIT Training Courses that have ultimately trained over 2800 police officers and sheriff’s deputies. Not only does Kyle facilitate these CIT programs, he teaches the Officer Wellness block during these training programs which brings an emotional and personal touch to this block that helps Police Officers know that its ok to ask for help and they do, sometimes calling him immediately after class is dismissed for the day. Kyle travels nationally to facilitate training's and share his lived experience. His ability to connect with officers, mental health professionals and the public has helped countless individuals. Always ready for a hug, Kyle quickly makes friends with everyone he meets. Kyle has helped to normalize mental health, wellness, and has saved lives doing so. The relationships and connections that Kyle has established truly makes CIT training possible in the St. Louis Region. He is a true credit to not only the Councils that he serves directly but also Missouri CIT overall as well. We are blessed to have Kyle and beyond thankful for all of the hard work he puts into the Eastern Region CIT programs. We are proud to nominate Kyle for the first, First Responder Spotlight.