Williamsport Bureau of Police implements plan to respond to mental health calls [Video]

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Officers with the Williamsport Bureau of Police are sworn “to protect and serve.”  And every day, they respond to many different emergencies- including calls dealing with a mental health crisis. Now, the bureau is implementing a mental health co-responder model. Officers will team up with a mental health professional to better respond to those calls.

“Having a co-responder go out and make contact with folks with us, it allows them to assess if there’s a mental health crisis and allows us to kind of steer that individual or the resources to that individual for further follow-up,” said Captain Joshua Bell Williamsport Police. 

Captain Joshua Bell says that one in ten calls the Williamsport Bureau of Police responds to involves a mental health crisis.

“That occurs pretty frequently, the officers when they have that are kind of …