Lee's Summit spotlights co-responder teams for crisis mental-health calls

Lee's Summit highlighted the city's co-responder intervention program in a community briefing ahead of the Finance & Budget Committee meeting.

A department presenter described the Scribe Intervention/Co-responder Team Program as officers specially trained to de-escalate crisis situations who now respond alongside licensed mental-health professionals. The co-responders "wear plain clothes" and "don't carry weapons," the presenter said, and they respond directly to crisis scenes so they can interact with citizens and connect them to services on site.

One co-responder identified herself as Allison and spoke directly to the program's goals: "I'm a mental health professional. I'm here to help you. I'm not here to take you to jail or arrest you." She described safety planning, family and support network involvement, availability of urgent-care assessments and follow-up checks to connect people to ongoing services.

A department presenter said the city logged 722 mental-health related calls for service in 2020 and 1,479 in 2022, noting a sustained increase in demand and the city's response to expand crisis-intervention officers and co-responder staffing.

The presenters said members of the public may request a co-responder by asking for one when calling 911: "All you have to do when you call 911 is ask for us," one presenter said. The program's stated goals are to get people connected with services and to divert community members from emergency rooms and jails.

Next steps were not specified at the briefing; the segment served to inform residents about the program and how to request co-responder assistance.