Kent State police officer Jeff Futo may have won the Campus Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Award, but he said it is the entire Kent State police department that deserves the recognition.

“It’s everyone’s effort from top to bottom,” Futo said. “Although my name’s on the award, it’s really a recognition of the county program and our police department.”

Futo accepted the award Sept. 1 in Columbus.

The CIT program instructs law enforcement officials on how to handle crisis situations involving individuals with a mental illness or substance abuse problem.

Futo, a native of Streetsboro, initially entered the aviation program at Kent State, but he decided it wasn’t for him.

“After taking a few classes, I realized, you know, maybe I didn’t want to be a pilot so much,” he laughed, citing that he wasn’t ready to put in the time, effort and money needed to complete the program.

Graduating with degrees in criminal justice and psychology, Futo said that while being a police officer always interested him, there was something that attracted him to Kent State specifically.

“I liked the university atmosphere,” he said. “And I wanted to find a job where I could work for the university.”

It didn’t hurt, he added, that the Kent State department is a highly accredited program. The CIT award, in his eyes, is an award recognizing the collective effort put into the accredited program.

“If we say we’re going to do this, and they want us to do it, we’re one of the best in the world at getting it done,” he said.

Contact Daniel Moore at [email protected].