Overland Park would dedicate significant resources to mental health police unit, city manager says

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Overland Park Police Department could have a unit dedicated to mental health emergency calls, if the recommendation from the city’s Mental Health Task Force is approved.

The task force presented its suggestion, which included 11 plainclothes crisis-intervention team coordinators and seven co-responders, to the City Council on Monday.

OPPD Chief Frank Donchez told council members the unit would include officers already in the department, and others would be hired to fill the roles for those who moved to the new unit.

Establishing the unit, according to the recommendation, would allow for a 24/7 response to mental health emergency calls and “extend” crisis-intervention training to all OPPD officers.

Overland Park police created its co-responding program in 2014 with one co-responder. The department now has two co-responders, one full-time crisis-intervention team coordinator and one sergeant.

“Over the last three years, the city has received over 10,000 mental health related calls for service, while only 20% of these calls for service received a response through the CIT Program,” the task force recommendation stated in a report to council members.

Other recommendations include:

• Add a full-time victim specialist in the Victim Advocate Program;
• Provide additional mental health support for first responders;
• Establish a mental health committee;
• Easily accessible mental health resources through the city website;
• Increase access to the Mental Health Diversion Program;
• Allocate funding to support substance-abuse disorder education,l prevention and intervention.

Overland Park City Manager Bill Ebel told the council significant resources would be dedicated to the task force's recommendations, though funding has not yet been approved.

Funding will be part of 2022 budget discussions that begin in June.