CLIVE, Iowa — The Clive Police Department has launched a new team focused on responding to calls where someone may be in a mental health crisis.
The co-responder program pairs an officer with a mental health professional to create a team that solely responds to calls from someone in crisis.
"So we're taking the burden off of patrol," said Clive Police Ofc. and Co-Responder Teammate Kelly Recchia. "Kind of adding that extra option, so that these people don't necessarily have to go to jail. Because coming from patrol, where we would normally encounter people who maybe had a mental health issue, and there wasn't a lot of choices, we just didn't exactly know if there was a criminal issue going on. Our first inclination was to take them to jail. But then that cycle just repeats, and they're not actually getting the resources and the help that they need."
Recchia works alongside TJ Wood, a mental health professional from Zion Integrated Behavioral Health Services. The pair work to de-escalate the situation and connect the person to services. They also follow up with the to ensure that connection to services and resources is the right fit.
"We'll end with a lot of in-person meetings, be it with an individual or family," Wood said. "And just making sure that they're getting the services that they need throughout the days, weeks, months that follow an initial crisis call."
The program, which receives state funding through the Heart of Iowa Community Services Region, also provides 40 hours of crisis intervention technique training for every officer in the department. It teaches them how to recognize and de-escalate a crisis situation.
"They never know what kind of call they're going to deal with," said Clive Police Chief Michael Venema. "And to be able to have that support from this team gives them that extra tool in their tool belt how to how to solve problems, because that's that's what policing is about helping people on the worst day of their life, helping them to get towards solutions."
Heart of Iowa Community Services says this program first started in Waukee. In the first six months of its implementation, the Waukee team responded to more than 125 calls for services and follow-ups. 25 jail diversions have taken place, and nearly 50 referrals have been made to local community resources.
"We don't have to put somebody with a serious mental health issue into the jail," said Darce Alt, Heart of Iowa Community Services MDHS Region CEO. "We can actually provide those other interventions, this team is key in each of these departments in making that happen, which is pretty awesome."
Zion partners to provide agencies the mental health professional. A teammate staffers believe changes the dynamic completely in these stressful situations.
"There are moments where folks don't want to talk to him because he's a law enforcement officer," said Melinda Dennis, Director of Crisis Services for Zion. "And so I get to pull a card of, 'Hey, I'm not an officer, would you like to talk to me?' And vice versa. Sometimes they find safety and talking with him over me."
Now that Clive has its program running full time, West Des Moines and Urbandale are set to launch co-responder programs this spring.
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