Wake Crisis Intervention Team Awards Luncheon honors first responders

More than a dozen Wake County first responders were honored Thursday.

The first responders were recognized for their role in helping Triangle residents in crisis. It was all part of the annual Wake Crisis Intervention Team Awards Luncheon.

The event celebrates the hard work of local Crisis Intervention Team officers, EMS staff and volunteers who successfully assist someone with mental health, substance abuse struggles or intellectual developmental disability who was going through a crisis.

"A lot of places now send some sort of mental health clinician along side a police officer, or sometimes there may be a police officer that waits outside when they send a mental health professional, because it could be distressing to see a uniformed officer," one attendee at the luncheon said.

ABC11 Anchor Amber Rupinta emceed the luncheon this year.