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Lee's Summit highlights police co-responder program as crisis calls climb
Summary
City presenters described a co-responder model pairing specially trained officers with licensed mental-health professionals to de-escalate crisis scenes and divert people from jails and emergency rooms; presenters cited 722 mental‑health-related calls in 2020 and 1,479 in 2022.
The Legislative & Intergovernmental Relations meeting included a presentation on Lee's Summit's co-responder program, which pairs crisis‑intervention officers with licensed mental‑health professionals to respond to behavioral-health calls.
Presenters said the co-responder model focuses on de‑escalation, safety planning and connecting people with services to avoid emergency-department visits or arrests. A mental‑health co-responder who identified herself as Allison described typical on‑scene work and told residents, "I'm not here to take you to jail or arrest you," emphasizing outreach, safety planning and short‑term follow-up calls.
City representatives cited local call-volume data to show demand for the program: 722 mental‑health‑related calls for service in 2020 and 1,479 by 2022. Presenters said co-responders can self‑dispatch or be requested by officers on scene and described common interventions such as connecting callers to urgent care assessments, arranging social‑support check‑ins and temporarily securing sharps and medications.
The committee received the presentation as informational; no formal action was taken. Members indicated the program is intended to reduce reliance on emergency rooms and jails and to present the police in a more supportive light when responding to mental‑health crises.
