Discussion:
MN DPS’s Crisis Response grant program is providing funding to law enforcement agencies to maintain or expand crisis response teams in which social workers or mental health providers are sent as first responders when calls for service indicate that an individual is having a mental health crisis.
The City of Shakopee is seeking funding to maintain its existing co-responder policing model where a social worker is embedded with a patrol officer. The officer and social worker respond to mental health-related calls and make follow-up visits to various calls where mental health problems are suspected.