(Springfield’s News Talk 104.1) – The Springfield Police Department, in partnership with Burrell Behavioral Health, was awarded a $797,798 grant from the Missouri Department of Public Safety State Crisis Intervention Program for the expansion of the agencies’ mental health co-responder program.

There are currently three full-time co-responders and one part-time co-responder, employed by Burrell, working with the program.

The grant will fund the salary and benefits for an additional three full-time co-responders, two part-time co-responders, and one full-time administrative support specialist. It also allows for limited training and equipment purchases.

The expansion will provide co-responder coverage on days and times that are currently either not staffed for an immediate response or are being covered on an on-call basis.

“We’ve already seen the benefit of the co-responder program,” Chief of Police Paul Williams said. “We’re connecting people in need of mental health services to those services and we’re reducing the need for police response, which frees up officers to respond to other calls for service.”

“By expanding the program and adding more staff to the co-responder program, it gives us the bandwidth to serve more people in the community and get treatment to those who need it,” Burrell Southwest Region President Clay Goddard said.

Launched in September 2022, the mental health co-responder program, a partnership between SPD and Burrell, pairs trained mental health and substance abuse counselors and SPD officers to respond to persons experiencing a non-law-enforcement crisis or issue.

The co-response creates the opportunity for the individual in crisis to be evaluated and referred to or taken in for immediate care and treatment, referral to services, or in-home services.

The program’s goal is to identify individuals in need and connect them to services outside of the involvement of law enforcement or corrections.