MOULTRIE — Three Moultrie police officers were among a class trained recently in crisis intervention, part of the department’s response to criticism of the September fatal shooting of a mentally ill man.

The training teaches police and other emergency responders to recognize various types of mental illness and defuse situations without resorting to force when possible.

Two Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office officers and two Moultrie firefighters also completed the course, which included three days of practicing techniques to de-escalate crisis situations.

Two of the Moultrie officers will get additional training that will allow them to train others, Police Chief Frank Lang said.

“It is my goal to get every officer under my command certified in this crisis intervention training,” he said.

The department currently has 46 funded positions, with four vacant. Lang said it likely will take about two years to train the entire force in the techniques.

Lang announced in January a crisis intervention session in Moultrie.

The shooting of 51-year-old Walter Wayne Peterson on Labor Day in his 113 Seventh St. N.W. residence angered the black community. U.S. Justice Department representatives have met with community members.

Peterson’s death, apparently the third fatal shooting of a mentally ill black man in Moultrie in about a 15-year span, also brought about a community initiative to improve the outlook for those suffering from mental illness.

A mental health subcommittee of the Archway Project is currently examining mental health facilities and services available to Moultrie residents since the closing of the Georgia Pines facility here in August 2009.

Among the ideas are to get Georgia Pines to come back to Moultrie a couple of days a week. Another possibility is to develop transportation between here and mental health facilities in Pelham and Thomasville.

Peterson, a suspect in a property damage case at a nearby store, had barricaded himself in his home after allegedly charging a Moultrie police officer with a butcher knife, according to reports from that incident.

Thinking Peterson was incapacitated by a Taser, a SWAT team entered the residence, those reports said. But Peterson was not incapacitated, police said, and he allegedly attacked the officers with the knife again.

A single officer fired five shots, two of which struck Peterson.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is still awaiting toxicology reports to complete its investigation.

Witnesses said that Peterson felt like he had been cheated at the store.

In addition to defusing confrontations, Lang said, the training also helps officers to identify people who need to receive medical attention rather than be sent to jail.

“Anything that we believe will help us other than the use of deadly force, we want to try it, anything that would keep us from taking a life,” he said. “We believe this training will help us in achieving that goal.”

The officers who took the course, which included those from other cities, received two days of classroom presentations along with three days of practicing de-escalation techniques, said Eleanor Brown, mental health coordinator for community corrections with the Georgia Department of Corrections.

It also included meeting with mental health consumers and their families, she said.

Officers who received certificates included patrol officer Sarah Walls and Sgts. Rob Rodriguez and Daniel Lindsay, firefighters Capt. David Croft and Lt. Justin Cox, and sheriff’s Sgts. Shawn Bostick and Randy Stephens. A Colquitt County 911 dispatcher and officers from Albany and Thomasville also were certified.

Statewide, the goal is to have 20 percent of officers trained, Brown said.

“We teach them to be compassionate to the mentally ill,” she said. “It’s not by choice someone’s mentally ill. We want to see them get into mental health treatment instead of jail. We’re trying to get rid of the stigma of mental illness.”