‘Be out loud about mental health’: Omaha police co-responders see rise in call volume

By Maddie Augustine

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    OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert proclaimed this week as National Co-Responder Week, and with call volume on the rise for people experiencing a mental health crisis, the Omaha Police Department’s Co-Responder team is more beneficial than ever.

Co-responders are not duty-sworn officers. They are civilians who are mental health professionals who respond alongside officers to assist with anyone having mental health-related struggles.

OPD currently has six co-responders. One for each precinct and one for one who specializes in children. All of them step in daily to assist Omaha police officers on 911 calls.

“Officers don’t have to focus on now, what do I do with the mental health piece?” Shelley Pool, OPD mental health crisis co-responder, said. “I’m there to assist with that, and they can focus on the law enforcement and safety of everybody that’s around.”

They’re known as the “Frank Unit,” or co-responders, and OPD mental health coordinator Lindsay Kroll said they’re like connectors working to provide an expert presence on any mental health-related call.

“What we’re here to do is to try to just address that gap a little bit more effectively,” Kroll said. “Mental illness isn’t something that you see. It’s not like a broken bone, or you take an X-ray to see what someone’s experiencing, so it can look like a lot of different things.”

Pool said every call is different, but the most vital step is to be present with those who are struggling.

“Crisis does this, and it can be quick, it can be long and drawn out,” Pool said. “They don’t always want to have their problem solved. They just want to be listened to.”

In her five years, Kroll said the unit has grown exponentially in how their role is perceived and utilized, but also in the call volume and need for mental health expertise.

“Just the conversations that we can have with people, with the community, with our fellow officers, with command, recognizing that we are not immune to mental health struggles as humans,” Kroll said. “So far this year, we’ve had 8,400 calls that are mental health-related into 911, so the call volume is there. In 2023, we had 10,307 mental health-related calls for service.”

Of those 8,400 calls, Kroll said their team of six has been able to make face-to-face contact on 1,737 of them and has effectively canceled officer responses more than 300 times.

“That’s really allowed officers time to be freed up to respond to other higher priority calls,” Kroll said. “We know that we’re down officers, so any way we can kind of take that burden off of their call load and assist effectively with that person in crisis. It’s a win-win for for everyone.”

On pace to surpass last year’s call volume, Pool said part of the increase is more recognition of how vast mental health is and the need for resources.

“Omaha has been more on the forefront of trying to be out loud about mental health,” Pool said.

Kroll said they hope to add one more to their team this year, but ultimately, she would love to see the team grow to 13 co-responders to better serve Omaha.

OPD co-responders also host trainings for officers, recruits and in the community with organizations, neighborhoods and citizens.

They also encourage anyone who may be struggling to contact 988 anytime.

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