Members of law enforcement say dealing with people in a crisis can be challenging and it's tough sometimes to find a comfort level. 

To deal with that, Monroe County hired and trained three additional clinical staff members who can respond along with police officers during a crisis situation.

"For far too long, we've relied on police officers to interact with people in a mental health crisis in the field with the only option of really having that officer bring that person to an emergency room for evaluation," said Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan. 

The Forensics Intervention Team, known as FIT, has been in place for two years. 

The team now consists of six full-time clinicians who can ride along and assist officers with people that may have a mental health issue. FIT was the brainchild of Kim Butler from the Office of Mental Health. 

"The officer that's dispatched can radio in and ask for a mental health clinician in real time to respond to that person's residence, park, employment, wherever they are, to have those clinical eyes," Butler said. "So we're definitely getting more resources to people which has proved to be instrumental to keep them better connected to treatment."

Right now the team is in place to handle calls Monday through Friday but they are hoping to expand to weekends. The team is just shy of visiting some 10,000 people countywide since the program's inception two years ago. 

Every police department involved with the FIT program goes through at least 20 hours of training and 40 hours of more in-depth training at the training center on Scottsville Road.