NAMI honors 2021 Ohio CIT Officer of the Year
City of Wooster patrolman Jerome Fatzinger, right, pictured here with Capt. Tony Lemmon, was recently named the State of Ohio Crisis Intervention Team Officer of the Year.
Patrolman Jerome Fatzinger of the Wooster Police Department was recently presented with the State of Ohio CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) Officer of the Year. The award was announced at the virtual state conference in April, and he received the actual award at a local advanced CIT training on June 7.
In nominating him for this award, Scott Rotolo, Wooster PD assistant chief, shared the situation of law enforcement being called to the home of a young male who was threatening suicide and had a sawed-off shotgun in his possession. As a CIT officer, Fatzinger was called to the scene to initiate contact with the young man. Many of WPD officers were on the scene to assist, but Fatzinger was the one who used the skills he learned during CIT to eventually bring a truly dangerous situation to a peaceful resolution.
Just prior to Fatzinger making contact with the person in crisis, he spoke to the man's parent. He was told his son was barricaded upstairs in the house, had a gun and wanted to die. Moreover, Fatzinger was told the male had a plan to come outside with the gun and force the police to shoot him, so he called the male using a cell phone and immediately began attempts to de-escalate him.
He spoke to the male for over 45 minutes, all the while using the skills he learned as a CIT officer to gain his trust and to work toward getting him to understand people were there to help him. Fatzinger was able to successfully build this foundation of trust to the point where the male agreed to leave the gun in the house and come outside to get the help he so desperately needed.
Fatzinger was calm, patient and compassionate the entire time. His actions epitomize what CIT is all about, and this man is alive with a peaceful resolution made. During this incident several officers worked as a team; however, at the center of it all was Fatzinger using his skills as a CIT officer. These types of situations are arguably the most dangerous and unpredictable ones law-enforcement personnel encounter. In this instance the training worked.
“I'm extremely proud of Jerome for what he did,” Rotolo said. “I'm equally proud of the leadership and passion patrolman Fatzinger shows for the CIT program, as well as the mental health of all his brothers and sisters in law enforcement.”
“This scenario is but one example of the fine CIT officer patrolman Jerome Fatzinger is in the line of duty,” NAMI director and local CIT coordinator Helen Walkerly said. “Other things that make patrolman Fatzinger the perfect candidate for the Ohio CIT Officer of the Year award is that since taking the 40-hour CIT training in 2010, he immediately got involved in the CIT Advisory Council and the local training program. He says that by attending this training and becoming involved with the CIT Program, he has found his why as a police officer.
“Jerome has worked tirelessly to help grow the local program. He participates in the trainings for LE officers, EMS/fire and dispatch. He teaches sections during the course and was named the Wayne-Holmes CIT Officer of the Year in 2015. In 2019 the local program was awarded Ohio CIT Program of the Year.
“Jerome is a mentor to other law-enforcement officers in both Wayne and Holmes counties and is thought of as the go-to officer for the CIT model of intervention. He has started an LE peer support group for officers and a liaison group for administrators. His compassion led him to initiate a Chat with a Cop program at our local MOCA House recovery center to break down barriers between officers and persons with mental illness. In 2020 when a CIT officer in the county died by suicide, he was the first to be contacted and provide support, and he participated in the Critical Incident Stress Management process provided for that agency.”