City Announces Program Partnership With CenterPointe
Published on September 17, 2024
Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird today announced that Lincoln Police Department (LPD) and CenterPointe will partner to provide a Co-Responder Program that enables law enforcement and mental health professionals to jointly respond to calls for service involving people experiencing mental health crisis.
“This program is another shining example of how the City of Lincoln and our community partners work together to get our residents the care they need, when they need it. Through innovations like the Co-Responder Program, we are advancing our goal of making Lincoln the safest and healthiest capital city in America,” Mayor Gaylor Baird said.
Joining Mayor Gaylor Baird at the news conference were Michon Morrow, LPD Chief; Tami Lewis-Ahrendt, CenterPointe Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Ben Kopsa, LPD Captain; Councilmember Sändra Washington; and John Goodwin, Malone Center Executive Director.
During calls for service involving people experiencing mental health crisis, the Co-Responder Program will allow mental health professionals to provide their expertise and resources to those in crisis, while LPD officers maintain safety and security. The program is designed to provide responders greater flexibility by allowing LPD officers to return to service while clinicians stay on site working with the individual in crisis.
Based at LPD, co-responders will work collaboratively with LPD officers and will receive calls for service through a dispatch by the Lincoln Emergency Communications Center, a request by LPD officers or by monitoring emergency radio channels. Three responders are expected to be hired, complete training and begin working across the city by early 2025.
The initial three years of the program are funded by a $550,000 Bureau of Justice Assistance grant with a match of $221,278 from the City’s budgeted general funds. Nearly 85% of those funds will pay co-responder salaries.
The majority of the remaining funds will be used to provide necessary training for co-responders, work from the Malone Center to collect community feedback regarding police mental health response, and work by Dr. Richard Wiener and researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Department of Psychology to evaluate the effectiveness of the program.
Chief Morrow said that development of the new program speaks to the core values of LPD that emphasize the preservation of life, the importance of problem-solving both within LPD ranks and in the community, crime prevention and human dignity.
“Research has shown that co-responder programs lead to better outcomes, reduce use of control by officers, decrease future contacts with callers and provide quicker access to the help people need,” Morrow said.
Morrow said LPD prioritized adding licensed clinical social workers and independent mental health professionals to the CenterPointe team to guarantee that the mental health professionals involved were not just qualified, but deeply experienced and compassionate.
“Our goal is to meet people where they are and provide them with the support they need, whether that’s law enforcement intervention, mental health care or simply ensuring they have the basic necessities to live with dignity,” Morrow said.
Captain Kopsa said that since tracking began in May, LPD has responded to more than 5,000 mental health-related calls for service, out of nearly 47,000 total calls received during that time. Officers make this determination on scene when they believe the mental health condition of a person directly involved caused or contributed to the incident, regardless of the initial call for service classification.
Because people typically call 911 for both public safety concerns and mental health crises, Kopsa said, the co-responder program will allow officers to request assistance when they believe mental health is a contributing factor to the call for service.
“This independence will allow the clinicians to maximize availability across the city as they will not be limited to a single police cruiser or geographic area during their shifts,” Kopsa said.
To help create a safer, more compassionate city where everyone receives the care and support they need, Kopsa noted that the Malone Center will conduct community conversations to gather feedback from people who either personally experienced or know those who have had interactions with police during a mental health crisis.
Lewis-Ahrendt said the Co-Responder Program is a needed expansion of CenterPointe’s crisis response programs that includes the Alternate Response Program launched last year to serve Lincoln’s unsheltered community.
“The need for behavioral health interventions, especially those like this program is significant. We are proud to partner with the City to continue to develop and provide innovative solutions to better meet the needs of our community,” Lewis-Ahrendt said. “By embedding behavioral health professionals within law enforcement response teams, we aim to de-escalate situations and connect individuals with the services they need.”
Washington said public safety partnerships like the co-responder program, help place Lincoln at the forefront of compassionate, community-based policing.
“The Co-Responder Program is an innovative solution to the complex challenge of mental health,” Washington said. “By integrating the expertise, background, and abilities of our dedicated law enforcement professionals at LPD with CenterPointe’s mental health practitioners, we will connect our residents to the mental health care that most appropriately and effectively meets their needs.”
John Goodwin, Malone Center CEO, said the Malone Center is proud to support a critical initiative to enhance mental health services and improve the collaboration between law enforcement and community organizations.
“Through this partnership, we are committed to refining law enforcement practices and providing crucial mental health support to those in need. Together, we aim to create safer, healthier communities by addressing mental health challenges with compassion and coordinated care,” Goodwin said.
For more information on CenterPointe, visit centerpointe.org. For more information on LPD, visit police.lincoln.ne.gov.