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Ordinance committee sends DOJ-funded crisis intervention team program to public hearing
Summary
The Lawrence City Ordinance Committee voted to send a Department of Justice grant-funded crisis intervention team proposal — funding clinicians embedded in the police department — to a public hearing at full council.
The Lawrence City Ordinance Committee voted to send to the full council for a public hearing a Department of Justice grant to fund a crisis intervention team embedded in the Lawrence Police Department.
The grant, as described by Rosa Sheppard, director of support services for the Lawrence Police Department, “is for $240,000 and it is for 2, for 1 full time clinician and 1 part time clinician for about 2 years.” The committee’s vote was to order a public hearing so the full council can consider the program.
City staff and the police department described the program as an effort to add clinical expertise to responses to mental-health-related calls and reduce repeated emergency calls for the same individuals. Sheppard said the department intends to begin with a response model in which officers secure scenes and a licensed clinician responds or conducts follow-up, then move toward an embedded model and eventually to a non-police crisis-response model used in some jurisdictions.
Committee members pressed staff on two topics: current data tracking and the sustainability of federal grant funding. Sheppard said the department does not now have “a data driven platform where we can distinguish which ones of those are related,” and that documentation systems would be part of program startup. Committee members warned that federal funding priorities could change and asked staff to plan for municipal budget discussions about sustaining the work if federal support ends.
During discussion, the committee also reviewed national research and local training history the department cited when describing the program’s goals and potential impacts, including reduced use of force and fewer repeat calls for service.
A motion to order a public hearing carried on a roll call vote: Councilor Serena Reyes, Councilor Del Rosario, Councilor Santiago and Chairman McPhee voted yes. The item will return to the full council with a favorable recommendation for an order of public hearing.
