Safer Cities provides coverage and analysis on innovative efforts to deliver more safety for our cities and our country.

More Cities Embedding Mental Health Experts Into 911 Dispatch Centers. Des Moines, Iowa “Embeds Mental Health Clinicians In 911 Dispatch Center To Aid Callers.”

The City of Des Moines now "embedding licensed mental health clinicians inside the 911 dispatch center — a rare approach used by only a handful of departments nationwide.” At the Des Moines 911 emergency call center, “when callers indicate they need mental health services, they are routed to a clinician in the dispatch center who begins the conversation immediately… they [can] determine what the risk is, as well as deciphering who is going to respond to that call.”

More Cities Launching Safety Ambassadors To “Assist Visitors And Residents, Build Relationships With Businesses And Keep The Area Clean And Safe.”

Earlier this year, local leaders in Lexington, Kentucky, launched the Community Paramedicine team, which responds to mental health and other behavioral health calls for service through a set of discreet, highly trained, and specialized teams that are housed under a single department.

Safer Cities recently spoke with Alexander Jann, a lieutenant with the Lexington Fire Department who oversees the Community Paramedicine team, to better understand how the team is working. Here are three takeaways from our interview with the Lexington Community Paramedicine Team.