The Sioux Falls Police Department is relaunching its co-responder model program for the summer.
It’s partnership with Southeast Behavioral Health that’s part of a larger city effort to address mental health issues.
Police officials say the program involves taking school resource officers, who are away from school during the summer, and pairing them with a mental health professional. These teams respond to calls involving mental health situations.
“Typically, from our co-responding officer, he or she shows up and make sure the scene is safe and turn it over to the mental health professional," said Sioux Falls Police Department Operations Lt. Jason Leach. "They’re really the professionals in this arena, we let them talk to the individual. It really calms things down, because this person is not in a uniform, they don’t have a badge or a gun or a bulletproof vest. They can really deescalate that situation and work with the individual.”
This is the fourth year of the program. Leach said in the first three years, co-responder teams handled over 300 calls. Over half of those teams were able to treat the person at the scene or set the individual up with mental health resources. Only eight ended in arrests.
Leach also said during times when there are no mental health-related calls, teams will check up with individuals they’ve helped in the past to see if they need any additional support.
The program runs through mid-August, when the officers return to their duties at city schools.
Sioux Falls Police Chief Jon Thum said in addition to the co-responder program, additional officers are on patrol in the downtown area during the summer. The increased presence aims to boost community outreach and increase the department's ability to respond as the downtown area sees increased activity during the warmer months.
Thum said the department continues to work with several community partners, including Downtown Sioux Falls Inc., South Dakota Urban Indian Health, Midwest Street Medicine and Sioux Falls Fire Rescue, to address non-violent behavioral health and substance abuse issues.