The "Lizard Man" on Poplar Street told Sgt. John Becker he was from outer space and was trying to get away from "the lizard people."

The disoriented man needed help, but Becker, of the sheriff's office, didn't know what to do. It was the late 1980s - the man wasn't breaking the law, and Becker didn't know the mental health resources available.

This week the Natrona County Sheriff's Office, the Casper Police Department and the Mills Police Department are taking on the responsibility to get people like "Lizard Man" to more appropriate help than jail.

"We deal with people like this all the time," said Becker, who is one of 15 officers taking part in a week of training in how to deal with people with mental illness.

"If you see someone whacked out, talking to themselves, who are you going to call?" Becker said. "The public is going to call law enforcement."

About 10 percent of the more than 60,000 calls the Casper Police Department responds to every year involve people with mental illness, said Sgt. Chris Hadlock.

Casper law enforcement has done "a pretty good job" of identifying people in crisis, he said, but more people with mental illness are ending up in the legal system.

Improvement has meant the creation of the Central Wyoming Crisis Intervention Team.

Hadlock modeled this training program after one from Memphis, Tenn. He has gotten Casper mental health providers, including Central Wyoming Counseling Center, Wyoming Behavioral Institute and NOWCAP, to help.

Through the program, Hadlock hopes to train 25 percent of law enforcement in crisis intervention and create a "really tight system" in which law enforcement and mental health providers can work together as they never have before.

"This is the first time the police department, sheriff's office and mental health facilities have gotten together where the systems have actually talked," said Paul Demple, who has worked as a mental health provider in Casper for 18 years.

Officers receive only about one to four hours of training in mental illness while at police academy, Hadlock said. This week the team gets 40 hours.

"It's more than training," Hadlock said. "We are developing resources."

After the training, officers should be able to identify people in crisis, defuse situations with de-escalation tactics and know resources to get the people help.

Demple, of the counseling center, wants to get officers away from just sending people to the emergency room.

Hadlock hopes to decrease the rate of officer injuries.

Officers in training attend seminars on personality disorders. Tuesday, they got a taste of what it was like to hear voices in their heads.

Half of the officers stood behind the others talking to them and distracting them from the directions the officer at the front of the classroom was giving.

It showed the officers how difficult it can be for someone with schizophrenia to focus.

The officers will visit the counseling center and Wyoming Behavioral Institute today.

Throughout the week, community actors will present scenarios to the officers in which they play people with mental illness.

During the role playing, the officers learn how their approach, tone of voice and body language can affect people with mental illness.

Thoughts of "Lizard Man" returned to Becker.

He was told there was a call of a disoriented woman loitering by a by a store scaring customers away from a business.

A woman ringing a bell and talking to her dead grandmother asked Becker if he had "found Jesus."

Even though he was talking to an actor, Becker said the situation felt like he was on Poplar Street again.

There was one difference: Now he had the tools to calm the woman down and get her to safety.

"We would be calling other resources, getting that person help," Becker said. "We would use our interpersonal skills to get them in the right direction."

Contact health reporter Allison Rupp at (307) 266-0534 or allison.rupp@trib.com.