Months after Overland Park decided to expand crisis team, only 10 of 18 jobs filled

The Overland Park Crisis Action Team was ready to grow last September from five members to 18.

But nine months after the expansion was approved, their team, which includes police officers and co-responders, is still incomplete with only 10 people.

The six mental health co-responder positions are filled with two recent hires, but there are still only four specially trained police officers on the team.

The team is a partnership between the Overland Park Police Department and the Johnson County Mental Health Department to respond to mental health calls with professionals trained in crisis intervention. The Overland Park Mental Health Task Force recommended the expansion last year and the city council voted 9-1 to approve the budget last September that included an increase in property taxes for the team. They also received nearly $250,000 from the Department of Justice.

Their goal is to pair specially trained officers with licensed mental health professionals to respond to mental health calls. Officers go through crisis intervention training and also can do more advanced training for specialties like elderly, juveniles, homelessness and negotiating.

The push for more mental health initiatives in the county was in part because of the death of 17-year-old John Albers in 2018.

Former Overland Park police officer Clayton Jenison responded to Albers’ home after multiple 911 calls said Albers was trying to kill himself. Jenison fired 13 shots and struck Albers six times while he was backing out of the driveway.

Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe cleared Jenison of any wrongdoing a month after the shooting, saying it was a justified use of force under Kansas law. After her son’s killing, Sheila Albers, who has been a strong advocate for improved mental health resources, formed JOCO United. The nonprofit has fought for a number of reforms, including requiring more officers undergo crisis intervention training, and adding a co-responder to every shift.

OPCAT was created in 2013 with one crisis intervention team specialist and one Johnson County Mental Health Department co-responder. It grew to two CIT specialists and three co-responders in early 2021 before being approved to expand again last September.

Tim DeWeese, the director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center, said that they have recently fully staffed the six co-responder positions, but also had some trouble recruiting.

Why there is a shortage and what to do

It is particularly difficult to hire police officers for the crisis action team.

That’s because a new recruit not only has to go through the regular training, but also crisis intervention and specialty training, said Capt. Jeff Burvee, the commander of the unit.

It also takes a special kind of person that wants to go out to mental health calls, which are usually long and take a lot of patience.

He said that is why they are also recruiting people who are already officers and can join the team more quickly.

The Overland Park Police Department as a whole is recruiting officers, and Burvee said their struggles are just a part of a nationwide staffing shortage among law enforcement.

Meg Ralph, a spokesperson for Overland Park, also said police chief Frank Donchez asked city council in the proposed 2023 budget for $142,000 for the police cadet program and an additional $18,000 for an internship program expansion to help grow the department.

That budget is not approved yet, and the Overland Park City Council will review, consider, have public hearings and ultimately vote on the budget on September 19.

Despite being so short-staffed, the team is running seven days a week, and officers work 10 hour shifts, Burvee said. So far this year, they have responded to just under 700 calls and have done about 440 follow-ups.

A large part of what they do is follow up with people after their initial calls to provide more resources and get them the help they need to avoid more crises, Burvee said.

Burvee said he hopes to hire three to four more officers by the end of the year.

Success since expansion

Sgt. Stewart Brought, who helped start the team, said that his officers on the team are running around all day doing everything they can.

They can’t respond to every call, so when a regular patrol officer responds to what they think is a mental health crisis, that officer calls the crisis action team in. Brought said the goal is to remove patrol officers from these situations and get their team in whenever possible.

The team is making a difference, even if it’s not at full capacity yet, said Brought. Their decision to put the CIT specialists in more low-key uniforms and unmarked cars has helped make people that are often frequent callers more comfortable.

He said some people don’t want their neighbors or landlords to see police cars in front of their house for fear of getting evicted, and it has made callers more welcoming of their help. There have also been multiple instances where people have refused to talk to regularly uniformed patrol officers and instead wanted to talk to the more casually dressed CIT specialists, Brought said.

A standout case that Brought said made other officers realize the importance of the team included a girl who was struggling at school and went to the principal’s office.

As she was leaving the office, she began self-harming and OPCAT was called. They brought the team’s therapy dog Haven, and the call lasted over two hours, but Brought said their team calmed the girl down.

“It was the first time she agreed to seek treatment, and she’d never done that before,” Brought said.

He said that is why it is vital to have a team that is not pressured to handle a call quickly and move onto the next like patrol officers.

Other mental health crisis teams

When creating Overland Park’s team, Brought said last September that they looked at other departments across the state and country, including Olathe’s.

Olathe’s Advanced Crisis Intervention Team is a similar size to Overland Park’s right now, and has grown to three officers, three full time co-responders and one part time co-responder since 2021. Sgt. Logan Bonney said they have recently been approved to add two more officers to the team, but that will take some time because they are waiting until patrol staffing increases slightly.

Once the department hires more officers, those interested can apply to be on their crisis intervention team and, if approved, go through more specialized training too.

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