First Responder of the Year Award

Rutherford County Sheriff’s Detective Patty Oeser earned the Crisis Intervention Training First Responder of the Year award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Middle Tennessee.

Oeser serves as the CIT training coordinator for Middle Tennessee.

CIT is a 40-hour, specialized training for law enforcement officers with the goal of improving outcomes of people living with behavioral health challenges. The training is supported by community partners.

Oeser is a certified CIT trainer in Tennessee. She teaches the training to officers in Rutherford County, the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy and other agencies.

She serves with the Tennessee Safety Network to conduct debriefings for law enforcement and first responders involved in critical incidents.

Oeser has always had a deep passion for the mental health of others and officers.

She joined the sheriff’s office 24 years ago. She has served as a dispatcher, patrol deputy, school resource officer and detective.