NC Conference—November, 2007
Matthew
Sullivan JD MSW
Police Crisis Counselor
The Town of Chapel Hill Police Department
As a police crisis counselor for the Town of Chapel Hill Matt Sullivan’s
primary responsibilities include providing crisis intervention services
to crime victims and providing human service support during police response.
The police crisis unit responds to assist both victims and responders
during critical and traumatic incidents and works with officers on cases
that involve the mentally ill as either victims or perpetrators. Matt
has been trained by the FBI to serve as a departmental hostage negotiator.
A product of the Chapel Hill Community, Matt received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1989, a Master of Social Work Degree from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1997. He received a Degree in Law from North Carolina Central University in 2006. Matt spent 7 and one half years as a law enforcement officer working for the Town of Chapel Hill Police Department, originally as a public safety officer. Other assignments within the department included working as a narcotics investigator, a community police officer, crime prevention officer and in youth services as a DARE officer. In 1994 he was named Chapel Hill Police Officer of the Year.
From 1995 to 1999, Matt was appointed Coordinator of Substance Abuse Programs at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In this capacity, he had the responsibility of administering the day to day operations of the campus alcohol and other drug treatment and prevention efforts. Much emphasis was also placed on environmental interventions directed to altering campus social norms surrounding dangerous student drinking and life skill development in student athletes.
Matt is an adjunct faculty member to the University of North Carolina
School of Social Work. He is a certified North Carolina Criminal Justice
Instructor and is certified in Critical Incident Stress Management.