11182020 Police Program

Lexington Police are changing how they are labeling their reports, to better categorize cases that could be better handled by social workers or mental health proffesionals

Two different projects could come together and make a big difference in how lexington police respond to some calls.

With the first..

Police have started labeling reports with an "s" if mental health or social service workers would have been useful in handling the case.

The city is partnering with university of kentucky social workers and students shape the program.

Also, a two-year federal grant is helping new vista develop a crisis outreach team to help first responders with everything from telephone guidance to actual mental health experts to respond to calls.

"i think that far too many times we look at participation metrics and not impact metrics and the simple addition of this code will really allow us to start to assess where we could be beneficial, where we could be impactful and perhaps most importantly, where we can efficiently use our resources."

Putting more mental health and social service resources into police responses has been an