It has been a year since the establishment of the Co-Responder Program, a partnership between the Lincoln Police Department and CenterPointe. The Co-Responder Program allows mental health professionals to respond jointly with LPD officers during calls for service involving people experiencing mental health crises.
Since the program began March 3, 2025, the Co-Responder Unit has responded to 370 calls for service, through which 248 individuals received assistance that eliminated the need for further emergency intervention.
“When someone in Lincoln is experiencing a behavioral health crisis, they deserve both safety and care,” says Amber Dirks, Vice President of Community Response at CenterPointe. “By responding side by side with LPD officers, our clinicians can de-escalate situations and connect individuals to immediate support.”
As a result, Dirks says approximately 75 percent of the individuals they serve are able to remain safely in the community. Embedded within LPD, co-responders receive calls for service through requests by LPD officers and telecommunicators, as well as by monitoring radio channels. Co-responders work to de-escalate the situation and provide compassionate support.
They then connect individuals to the behavioral health services they need or help re-establish those connections. The collaboration allows officers to return to service more quickly. “CRU is indicative of community policing,” says Investigator Doug Headlee, LPD Mental Health Coordinator.
“We are pairing the most appropriate resource to our community members when they are calling for assistance.”
CenterPointe CEO Tami Lewis-Ahrendt says over the past year, they have seen how powerful this partnership can be. “The Co-Responder Program shows what is possible when systems align around thoughtful, coordinated solutions.”
She says through strong collaboration with the City and LPD, they are expanding access to compassionate crisis response and creating pathways to stability that meet people where they are and last beyond the immediate crisis.
The Co-Responder Program is funded by a $550,000 Bureau of Justice Assistance grant with a match of $221,278 from the City’s budgeted general funds through September 30, 2026. Nearly 85 percent of those funds pay co-responder salaries. Funding for the Co-Responder Program also includes a $200,000 federal grant from the COPS Program for Promoting Access to Crisis Teams.