Somerville Police Launch Co-Response Pilot Program

This week, the Somerville Police Department (SPD) launched its Co-Response Pilot Program. The initiative will provide a proactive, real-time co-response by police and a public health professional for calls involving individuals who may be experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis.

The launch of this pilot is the result of years of intense community and cross-departmental work that identified a need and sought to address it,” said Mayor Jake Wilson. At the root of the program is a desire to make sure our community members are safe and connected to the care they need.”

How the Co-Response Pilot Works

The co-responder, currently a staff member with the Community Outreach Help & Recovery (COHR) program, will be on duty to respond with SPD officers during two four-hour blocks each week. The co-responder will be dispatched with an officer when certain pre-determined 911 call types are received, which might involve mental health, substance use, welfare checks, and various conflicts or disturbances.

During co-response hours, the public health professional can also be requested to respond at the discretion of any SPD officer who determines it would be beneficial upon evaluating a scene.

While the co-responder is not on duty, SPD officers will continue to rely on crisis intervention and de-escalation training to inform responses involving mental or behavioral health crises. As is standard practice, COHR may follow up after the initial response, and officers can also directly refer an individual to COHR to receive wraparound services.

Connecting to Ongoing Support

After the SPD officer determines that the scene is safe, the co-responder may provide assistance by accompanying the officer to talk to the person in crisis, gathering details to help inform next steps, and/or coordinating immediate care if needed.

For those responses where addiction or behavioral health challenges are present, the co-responder will work with COHR and other partners to provide follow-up and aftercare, with the ultimate goal of creating a robust continuum of care for the person in need.

The implementation of the co-response pilot is a direct response to our community recommendation to advance alternative responses to mental health crises,” said SPD Chief Shumeane Benford. This initiative builds on COHR work, as well as SPD Crisis Intervention Training, to help us continue growing our department ability to plan safe, impactful response options.”

Implementing Public Safety for All Recommendations 

The Co-Response Pilot Program builds on recommendations from the City Public Safety for All process, a multi-year initiative led by the Department of Racial and Social Justice (RSJ) to reimagine public safety in Somerville. The initiative also builds on COHR's long-standing jail diversion program, which embeds social workers and public health professionals within SPD.

As the pilot program proceeds under initial limited hours, SPD and COHR will collect data about co-response utilization in the city. This data will then help inform a potential permanent, and expanded, co-response program.

I excited to move this to the next phase swiftly and smartly,” said Mayor Wilson. The point here is to test, learn, get our responders familiar with new systems, and then deliver more fully on this long-held community goal. There is a real hunger to bring this approach to our city and like many in our community I extremely eager to see this happen here.

Additional Crisis Services: Anyone can receive mental health support by calling or texting 988. 988 is free, confidential, and available 24/7, 365 days a year. Community Behavioral Health Centers (CBHCs) are available across Massachusetts and are open daily for crisis care. CBHC also offer 24/7 Mobile Crisis Intervention services, which can be accessed by calling 877-382-1609 any time.

Persons with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication (i.e., CART, ASL), written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures in order to access the programs, activities, and meetings of the City of Somerville should contact the ADA Coordinator in advance at 617-625-6600 x 2059 or ADA@somervillema.gov.

If you need assistance understanding this information, please contact us at languageaccess@somervillema.gov or call 311 (617-666-3311). The City of Somerville can provide you with an interpreter for free.