Alexandria woman named Officer of the Year | People

ALEXANDRIA, KY (FOX19) - Patrol officer Natalie Selby has been named the 2012 Kentucky CIT Officer of the Year by NAMI Kentucky.

Officer Selby, of the Alexandria Police Department, was giventhe honor at the annual conference in Louisville on July 28.

Officer Selby is one of two CIT officers in the Alexandria Police Department and is the only qualified CIT trainer in Northern Kentucky. 

According to NAMI officials, Natalie goes well beyond the actions of a typical CIT officer. They say that she does her best to prevent calls to the police triggered by those with severe mental illness.  She also maintains a confidential list of those in her district who have triggered CIT calls in the past.  She regularly visits those individuals in their homes, establishing a friendly relationship with them and their families, so that if they become ill enough to be violent, the responding officer, always Natalie, knows them, their illness and their triggers.  She encourages “her” charges to stay on medication and to get additional medical help when she identifies a coming crisis or is warned by the family that the ill person is decompensating.

Officer Natalie Selby is also a board member and strong supporter of NAMI Northern Kentucky.

NAMI stands for National Alliance on mental Illness.