Coverage spread: 2 sources — 2 unrated
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- Chandler police officers underwent specialized crisis intervention training aimed at de-escalating mental health-related emergencies.
- The training took place at Chandler’s Public Safety Training Center and used simulated real-world scenarios.
- Both sources frame the effort as part of the department’s broader push to safely handle behavioral health crisis calls.
Where they differ
- 12 News offers only a brief, general summary of the training with no named officers, statistics, or quotes.
- AZFamily provides extensive detail: it names officers McWhorter and Daughtery, coach Rebecca White, and quotes Sgt. Matt Cacciola extensively.
- Only AZFamily reports hard numbers — the unit’s 2024 founding, five officers plus one staffer, over 1,300 crisis calls, and just one reported use-of-force incident.
- AZFamily includes the specific autism-related movie theater training scenario, a detail absent from the 12 News piece.
Officers from the Chandler Police Department’s Behavioral Health Unit ran through simulated crisis scenarios at the department’s Public Safety Training Center to practice de-escalation techniques used on real calls involving people with mental illness, autism, or other cognitive conditions. The unit, formed in 2024, has handled more than 1,300 crisis-related calls and reports only one use-of-force incident during that span.
What did the training involve?
Officers worked through immersive, staged scenarios meant to mirror real emergencies. In one exercise highlighted by AZFamily, officers McWhorter and Daughtery responded to a mock call at a movie theater involving a person with autism in crisis. Rather than trying to physically control the situation, the officers focused on building trust through communication. Rebecca White, a coach from Aspen Behavioral Consulting, played the person in crisis and gave the officers real-time feedback on which responses helped and which didn’t.
Who runs the Behavioral Health Unit and what’s its approach?
Sgt. Matt Cacciola, who leads the unit, said the core method is connection and patience rather than confrontation. He described the goal as trying to engage with the person, using active listening and giving the situation time rather than rushing to control it. Cacciola noted that no two crisis calls look alike — what counts as a crisis depends entirely on who’s calling and what they’re going through, whether that’s a mental health episode, a developmental disability, or a cognitive condition.
How big is the unit and how often does this training happen?
The Behavioral Health Unit consists of five sworn officers and one professional staff member, and it has been operating since 2024. Cacciola said the crisis intervention training is held four times a year to keep officers’ skills current.
What results does the department point to?
Cacciola cited the unit’s record as evidence the training works: out of roughly 1,300 crisis-related calls — including suicidal subjects with firearms or knives and barricaded individuals — there has been only one reported use of force. He said keeping people experiencing crises out of the criminal justice system, rather than treating them as criminal suspects, is a central goal. He framed avoiding harm during these encounters as directly tied to getting people the help they need instead of an arrest.
How do the two accounts of this story differ?
12 News’ report is a brief note that Chandler officers received specialized training to de-escalate mental health crisis situations, without elaborating on specifics. AZFamily’s account goes into much greater depth, describing the actual training scenario, naming the officers and coach involved, and including direct quotes from Sgt. Cacciola about the unit’s philosophy, caseload, staffing, and safety record.
Why does this matter for the community?
Police departments nationwide have faced scrutiny over how officers handle encounters with people experiencing mental health crises, autism-related meltdowns, or other cognitive conditions — situations where traditional law-enforcement tactics can escalate danger rather than reduce it. Specialized units like Chandler’s Behavioral Health Unit reflect a broader shift toward pairing officers with training or clinical expertise aimed at de-escalation and diversion from jail, rather than default use of force. The low reported use-of-force rate cited by Cacciola, if it holds up over time, would suggest the model is reducing physical confrontations during high-risk calls, though neither source provides independent verification of that figure or comparison data from before the unit’s creation.
Sources
Featured photo: Jonathunder via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)