RALEIGH COUNTY, West Virginia — Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Billy Adkins has been named CIT Lifesaver of the Year for using crisis-intervention training, empathy and de-escalation to protect people in behavioral-health emergencies.
WVVA reported July 22 that Adkins received the recognition at the fourth annual West Virginia 988 & Crisis Intervention Team Summit in Parkersburg. A separate Register-Herald report identified the honor as the CIT Lifesaver of the Year award presented during the summit’s annual awards luncheon.
Award recognizes de-escalation during an armed crisis
The nomination described Adkins responding to an armed person experiencing a crisis in a cemetery. Rather than treating the encounter only as an enforcement problem, Adkins approached it as a behavioral-health emergency, the reports said.
According to the published account, Adkins used calm communication and de-escalation to slow the encounter, recognize the danger of self-harm and build enough trust for the person to surrender the weapon safely. No one involved was identified by the local reports, and ThinBlueNews is preserving that privacy boundary.
The award honors a first responder who uses de-escalation, training and empathy to save the life of someone experiencing a mental-health crisis, WVVA reported.
“You Are Not Alone” brings services into the community
Adkins is also known for his You Are Not Alone outreach initiative in Beckley. The program brings law enforcement, peer specialists and service providers into the community to meet people experiencing mental-health challenges, substance-use disorders or homelessness, according to both local accounts.
The reports said the initiative is designed to reduce barriers to care by offering immediate connections to treatment, transportation and support without judgment. That early-intervention approach reflects the Crisis Intervention Team model of pairing public safety with practical pathways to care.
Recognition highlights a lifesaving side of police work
This recognition is significant because it centers a form of police work that can be difficult to capture in a single image: listening, creating time, reducing tension and connecting a person in crisis with help. In the incident cited by the nomination, those skills helped produce a safe outcome without escalating force.
Readers can find more verified public-safety work in ThinBlueNews’ officer recognition, police hero stories, deputy sheriff hero stories and positive police news coverage.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a suicidal or mental-health crisis in the United States, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Call 911 if there is immediate danger.
Sources, visual rights and video status
- WVVA: “Sgt. Billy Adkins honored with state Lifesaver of the Year award,” published July 22, 2026. ThinBlueNews directly inspected the full article text, publication time, award criteria, crisis-response summary and outreach-program description.
- The Register-Herald: “Compassion under pressure: Sgt. Billy Adkins earns state lifesaver award,” published July 22, 2026. The directly inspected article and caption confirm Adkins, the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department, the summit, award title and ceremony context.
Featured-image note: The local reports displayed a real ceremony image, but the inspected pages did not provide an explicit reuse license for ThinBlueNews. We did not republish it. The featured visual is a clearly labeled typography-only editorial card and does not imply that it depicts Adkins, the ceremony or a crisis response.
Video note: WVVA’s article is a text report with a station-hosted presentation, while The Register-Herald article is text-and-photo based. Neither inspected source identifies official bodycam, dashcam, crisis-response or ceremony footage material to the facts of this story. This recognition report does not materially depend on video, so no video embed is represented or required.
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