County detective honored for efforts

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Perry County Sheriff’s Office Det. Jason Klaus opened last Friday’s Crisis Intervention Team Officer Appreciation Banquet with a confession.
“I lost my pants,” Klaus said from the podium, where he stood in a suit jacket, tie and blue jeans. “Somewhere between Frohna and here, there’s a gray pair of suit pants that I cannot find. I apologize. It was not intentional. I meant to dress up.”
Klaus, who serves as the Missouri State CIT coordinator, served as master of ceremonies for the fourth annual event founded by the late Audrey Burger, former clinical operations director at Community Counseling Center and a driving force behind the CIT program, a model for community policing that brings together law enforcement, mental health providers, hospital emergency departments and individuals with mental illness and their families to improve responses to people in crisis.
CIT programs enhance communication, identify mental health resources for assisting people in crisis and ensure that officers receive the training and support to stand ready when the need arises.
Friday’s banquet, held at the Robinson Event Center in Perryville, recognized several members of the Southeast Missouri CIT Council for their efforts during the previous year, including one of Klaus’ fellow officers, Perry County Det. Mathew Schamburg, who was named the 2019 SEMO CIT Officer of the Year.
“Awards really aren’t my thing,” Schamburg said after being presented with the award, “It is really humbling and I’m very honored to stand up here and be recognized by my peers. That’s a huge deal.”
The SEMO CIT Council is made up of several participating departments — Cape Girardeau Police, Cape Girardeau County Sherriff’s Department, Perry County Sherriff’s Office, Perryville Police, the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Jackson police — along with numerous partner agencies including the Community Counseling Center, the Coalition for Heroin and Opioid Prevention, and many other state and county agencies.
Schamburg, one of the first officers in the Southeast Missouri region to receive CIT training and who received several nominations for this year’s award, spoke about how important that training is for law enforcement officers.
“Way back when, eight years ago, when I got into this profession, much like all the other law enforcement officers in this room, I wanted to fight crime, chase bad guys, run-and-gun, and do all those things,” Schamburg said. “But at the end of the day, what’s most important is that we want to make a difference and help others. All of my fellow law enforcement officers in the room can attest that you can lose sight of that sometimes with all the bad stuff we see and the negative things that we deal with on a daily basis.”
CIT training, Schamburg said, can help counter that loss of focus.

“I think it’s important to be tough, to be hard in this job, but it’s equally as important to be compassionate, empathetic, to take time for each other, for the people that we deal with and to be approachable,” he said. “When you’re in kindergarten, they teach you and treat others like you would be treated. Treat others like you want your mom and dad to be treated. And I think that’s important in this job.”
Also receiving special recognition was former Perry County Ambulance Service director Mary Chappius, a SEMO CIT Council member since 2014. Friday also marked Chappius’ retirement from the ambulance service after 33 years.
“I have been able to sit on a couple different initiatives with her and her dedication to whatever it is in front of her is unmatched,” Klaus said by way of introduction. “Mary has been attending our SEMO CIT Council really since we started meeting. “
Chappius began her career with the Perry County Memorial Hospital in 1979. As an EMT in emergency department in 1986, she transferred to the ambulance department, and in 1994 became director. Since that time, she helped implement several programs, including the Special Needs Tracking Awareness and Response System, or STARS.
“Just tremendous public service all around,” Klaus said.
Other honorees included Shawni Miller, an emergency services supervisor with Community Counseling Center, who was named 2019 Community Partner of the Year.
The keynote speaker for the event was Richard N. Gowdy, PhD, director of the Division of Behavioral Health the Missouri Department of Mental Health, which oversees mental health and substance use disorder services, and an adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Missouri.
Gowdy, who received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University, is a psychologist and certified forensic examiner, who has served as a member of national and state advisory committees.
“I’m not worried that our efforts at crisis response will survive,” Gowdy said. “I think we’ve reached a critical mass. I think CIT training has become so important and so necessary that there’ll be no turning back. Too many people, too many agencies, too many communities now understand the value of what we’re doing. What I hope for the future — and I do believe that we’re getting there — is a time where it’s not just okay but it’s mandatory to address wellness issues for peace officers and other first responders. This is so critical to make sure that we don’t burn out and burn up these good people who do this work.”
Gowdy said he’s heartened to see the matter being addressed.
“We’ve got some smart people in the command structure who recognize that,” Gowdy said. “They get it. They understand what we can to address this repetitive trauma that first responders experience. Officer wellness is as important as the tactical gear they wear.”