The department now has one therapist, Franny Gantner, based at the southwest precinct. Lee Dittman will start Wednesday and work out of the northwest precinct and also with the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. By the end of 2019, the department hopes to hire a third co-responder and a mental health coordinator. Officials hope to hire two more co-responders in 2020, depending on money secured through grants.

Additionally, about 31% of the 878 sworn officers in the Omaha Police Department have undergone Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) training. The weeklong training teaches officers across the state what mental illness is like, how to look for signs that someone is in the midst of a mental health crisis and how to react calmly and appropriately. Three CIT training sessions are held per year, and an additional 13 Omaha police officers will attend training this month.

The percentage of CIT-trained officers in the department continues to grow even as the overall number of officers increases. In 2017, 27% of the officers were CIT-trained. Last year, that figure was almost 30%. All recent years have had levels above the expert-recommended 20% to 25% per department.