Mayor Domenic J. Sarno and Springfield Police Superintendent Cheryl Clapprood announced today that the Springfield Police Department has been awarded a Jail/Arrest Diversion Program Grant of $367,474 from the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH). The grant will continue the implementation of the police / clinician co-response during the Fiscal Year 2024, in partnership with Behavioral Health Network (BHN).
The grant will support a clinical co-response staff of three (3) and a clinical supervisor from BHN to assist and respond with Springfield Police Officers during crisis and follow-up calls for service.
Mayor Sarno states, “My administrations is proud to continue our partnership with BHN to have their dedicated clinicians co-respond with our brave and dedicated police officers during a mental health or crisis call. Following up on my roundtable meeting with key community stakeholders and members of the clergy on how we can mitigate this uptick in gun violence, one of the main components to enhance our proactive and preventative services and outreach is the continue and look into expanding our mental health related response in partnership with BHN.”
“Police Superintendent Clapprood and I want to thank BHN President and CEO Steve Winn for his continued support and partnership with our Springfield Police Department to help address the growing mental health related calls for service. Also, thank you to Senior Vice President Michelle Michaelian and Chelan Brown for attending my administrations recent community stakeholder’s roundtable discussion this week to discuss our continued collaborative efforts to support, fund and enhance our successful proactive outreach and preventative programs and initiatives, such as our partnership with BHN.”
Also, Mayor Sarno states as a follow up to his community stakeholder’s roundtable meeting that he has spoken personally with Attorney General Andrea Campbell and Governors Councilor Tara Jacobs to invite them, when their scheduler permits, to come listen and address the mayor’s working groups concerns on illegal/ghost gun crimes and judges being too lenient on repeat violent criminal offenders. He looks forward to hosting them in the very near future.
Mayor Sarno has sponsored an order for the City Council to accept the $367,474 grant from the state Department of Mental Health. The City Council is scheduled to vote on this order during their regular scheduled meeting on Monday, July 17th.
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