Committee seeks police and personnel department briefings on proposed Lawrence Police clinician ordinance

The Lawrence City Ordinance Committee on Feb. 11 advanced a procedural request on a proposed ordinance that would create a clinician position for the Lawrence Police Department’s CIT mobile outreach team and asked department personnel to appear at the committee’s next meeting to present background.

The draft ordinance (document 3725) was introduced to the committee through city-attorney language submitted by Attorney Tim Hooten. The committee chair read the job summary into the record: “The Lawrence Police clinician will be expected to respond in real time to provide an assessment and implementation at intervention,” carry a small caseload, facilitate groups, and ensure record-keeping compliant with internal and external requirements.

Committee members said the city attorney’s draft is a useful starting point but requested that either a Police Department official (identified by members as Sergeant Panjatakas or Chief McCarthy) or the city’s personnel director attend the next committee meeting to answer operational and personnel questions. The committee voted to request those officials’ attendance; the motion carried on a roll call.

Why it matters: the clinician role would be embedded in an interdisciplinary outreach team and could change how the Police Department responds to behavioral-health calls; committee members said they want departmental and personnel input before moving the ordinance forward.

Next steps: staff will ask the Police Department and the personnel director to attend the next Ordinance Committee meeting to provide operational detail and to answer questions about hiring, supervision, and recordkeeping.