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Lee's Summit highlights co-responder program for mental-health crisis calls
Summary
City narration at the meeting described the police department's co-responder program in which licensed mental-health professionals respond with officers to crisis calls to provide on-scene care and diversion from jail or emergency rooms.
Lee's Summit described its co-responder program at the Sept. 11, 2025 planning commission meeting record, explaining how licensed mental-health professionals respond alongside crisis-intervention-trained officers to mental-health calls and work to connect people to services.
A speaker identified themselves as a mental-health professional and explained the role: "Like, hey. You know, my name's Allison. I'm a mental health professional. I'm here to help you. I'm not here to take you to jail or arrest you." The record says co-responders wear plain clothes, do not carry weapons, and typically have bachelor’s or master’s degrees in a behavioral-health-related field.
The transcript includes call-volume figures: "In 2020, we had 722 mental health related calls for service. 2022, by that time, 1,479." The speaker said the city increased the number of crisis-intervention-team officers and co-responders to meet growing demand and urged callers to request a co-responder by asking for one when calling 911: "All you have to do when you call 911 is ask for us. You know, say, hey. I want a corresponder to respond to this crisis, and we'll go." The speaker described common on-scene work: safety planning, connecting to urgent care or medication assessment, and linking people to ongoing services.
The record includes personal testimony from the co-responder about helping a person with suicidal ideation find immediate support and follow-up contact within hours. The city framed the program as aiming to divert people from emergency rooms and jails and to improve community perceptions of police responses to behavioral-health crises.
