Mental Health Partnerships

City of Dacono Partners with North Range Behavioral Health to Provide Expert Care During Mental Health-Related Calls

For many years, police departments have been telling their leadership that police should not be handling alone, calls for service involving people who are having a mental health crisis, either acute or terminal. While police are able to handle a wide-variety of situations confronting them, the fluidity of life can sometimes end badly when police are called to intervene in situations that they are not entirely equipped, prepared or trained to handle.

In 2020, the Dacono Police Department along with the police departments of Firestone, Frederick and Mead, in partnership with North Range Behavioral Health, applied for a grant to form a co-responder program. Co-responder programs are partnerships between police and professional mental health clinicians where the clinician responds along with police, to calls for service involving people who are experiencing a mental health crisis or if not a crisis, are experiencing a situation involving someone who is dealing with ongoing mental health matters. The grant was denied due to lack of funding and the high demand for that funding.

However, working in conjunction with the administration at the North Range Behavioral Health, the Dacono Police Department is now able to utilize the services provided by the organization in our day-to-day operations, in much the same manner as we would have done had we been awarded the grant funds. Sometimes it takes small steps to achieve a goal. Even as I write this, we are working to expand upon this effort.  

Nonetheless, partnering with an organization specializing in the field of mental health has long been a goal of the Dacono Police Department and we have most certainly taken the first step.  

Moving forward, under pre-determined conditions, members of the Dacono Police Department, working in conjunction with staff at North Range Behavioral Health will call on them to assist our officers on calls involving people who need mental health services. As police officers on these calls, we will step back and provide security as needed. If security is not necessary we will likely allow North Range Behavioral Health to handle the situation, based on their assessment and after ensuring that there will be no crime, acts of violence or jeopardy to anyone involved. North Range Behavioral Health has taken steps and made all necessary arrangements with regard to staff, facilities and equipment to work within the scope of this partnership.  

This partnership gives Dacono officers an important option and in many cases, it gives the officers access to professionals who can offer people struggling mentally and emotionally true help.  

I want to thank the entire staff and North Range Behavioral Health organization, with a special thanks to Kim Collins, with whom I’ve had many conversations about the importance of this program and partnership.   

Matthew Skaggs
Chief of Police, City of Dacono