In 2013 Officer Spencer Mortensen of the Coeur D Alene Police Department approached a suicidal man with a knife. In the end Officer Mortensen did the job for him.

Fast forward a few years and the Coeur D Alene School District is so impressed by the Coeur D Alene Police’s deescalation skills, they decided to hire them to be a part of the School Suicide Impact Team. Take a look at Nicole Piekarski of the Coeur D Alene School District describing the role of SRO’s (Coeur D Alene Police) on the school impact team.

“These kids are hurting. We want to put their minds at ease by having them sit in a quiet room with a large man with a gun,” Superintendent Stephen Cook said on the matter. “The science really tells us that having someone with a history of shooting suicidal people, around suicidal people, really prevents suicide.” Nicole Piekarski added, “It’s kinda like Scared Straight for depressed people.”

Coeur D Alene Police Chief Lee White agreed, “We’re proud to partner with the Coeur d Alene School District by putting armed men into crisis situations. If someone thinks about committing suicide we can give them a lawful order to not commit suicide and they will comply.” He went on to say, “in rare instances where they don’t comply we will force them to comply by lethal force.”

This type of partnership is being praised by parents and teachers alike. One parent of a student said, “After Parkland, where we found out that SRO’s hide if there’s an actual gunman, it’s so nice to know that we have something else for them to do. I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth from my taxes.” Teacher’s agreed, “We just love that our SRO’s can do more than just watch videos of teenage girls and boys making out in the hallways. Now they can help those boys and girls if they’re sad after they break up.”

One boy that went to the school impact team after a very sad time in his life was impressed by how it helped, “Officer Petersen was so large that I forgot all my sadness and I just felt scared. Thanks Officer Petersen for helping me not feel sad anymore.”