KC metro area police department adds mental health expert to response team
The Lee’s Summit Police Department is adding an outreach clinical specialist to assist officers responding to mental health crises.
The “co-responder pilot program” recently launched through the department’s partnership with ReDiscover, a non-profit community mental health center based in Lee’s Summit.
The pilot program is funding one outreach specialist from ReDiscover who began working inside the department about three weeks ago, said Sgt. Chris Depue, a spokesman with the police department. That individual will go with officers responding to calls involving behavioral health.
“With the co-responder, we can put people immediately into services and we can walk right along with them as we partner with them to get them through the journey,” Depue said. “So it just really brings a more immediate and tangible response to folks in a mental health crisis, especially in a severe mental health crisis.”
This announcement comes as calls for defunding police departments to invest more in mental health and other social services continue around the country.
Shannon Moss, the clinical director for access, intake, outreach and crisis at ReDiscover, said their goal is to bring services directly to the community members in need, whether through on-site help or by bringing them to a behavioral health urgent care clinic, for example.
“It’s a way to diverge out of the jail system, which is the ultimate goal, is how can we better help the community that we’re serving rather than just arresting people and putting them in jail,” Moss said.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, the Lee’s Summit Police Department has responded to an increased number of calls related to behavioral health and suicidal ideations, Depue said.
Departments across the country have seen similar increases in such calls as the pandemic forces many people into more isolated and stressful circumstances.
“Never forget that we are police officers first and mental health professionals second, third or fourth, so we’re just excited to have them partnering and pioneering the way with us, and teaching us what we need to know,” Depue said of the program.
Moss said in addition to suicide calls, the ReDiscover’s mental health professional will also help police respond to calls such as people experiencing psychosis or extreme depression.
“Instead of waiting for someone to access services further on down the road, can we help get you connected right now,” she said, noting that the co-responder in a way serves as an immediate link between the individual in crisis and the city’s resources.
The co-responder is also taking a proactive approach by looking at the recent history of police calls and determining which individuals she can reach out to and help before they call 911 again, Moss said.
Both Depue and Moss said if the program proves effective, they hope it becomes permanent. It’s currently funded through December by the CARES Act. At that point the department will evaluate whether to renew the program.
“If we see a lot of value in this, you’re going to see funds diverted to that, you’re going to see funds moving in that direction, or just finding that happy balance between how do we keep everyone safe but at the same time provide those services,” Depue said.
The co-responder will work alongside the police department’s existing Crisis Intervention Team, which was formed in 1999 with the National Alliance on Mental Illness to provide training to officers, according to a news release from the police department.
The new program is also meant to compliment Safe Passage, a program launched by the department in 2019, also in partnership with ReDiscover, First Call KC and other local health care providers, according to the release. The goal is to support individuals struggling with substance use disorders.
This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 4:39 PM.
