GREENFIELD — Since the start of the year, city dispatchers have diverted 349 calls directly to behavioral health services, bypassing any direct police involvement.

In that same time frame — January through September — an additional 292 calls warranted a co-response between police and behavioral health clinicians, according to data shared with city councilors this week. In total, dispatchers fielded 11,660 calls for service, of which roughly 641 (about 5.5%) were mental health- or behavioral health-related.

“The 349 diverted calls, that’s something we’re proud to tell you about,” Deputy Police Chief William Gordon told City Council on Wednesday.

The co-response program, which is based on similar models throughout the state and aims to divert people who are experiencing a behavioral health crisis away from jails or emergency rooms, launched in 2021 following years of conversations between Greenfield Police and Clinical & Support Options (CSO).

Funded by a Massachusetts Jail Diversion Program grant, the program supports a partnership between CSO and the Greenfield, Deerfield and Montague Police departments. As part of this partnership, two full-time, licensed clinicians are embedded within the Greenfield Police Department and co-respond on calls for all three departments with daily coverage.

“Before, most of those calls we’d send an officer because we didn’t work with a partner agency,” Gordon said. “When we partnered, we were able to create these drop-off centers, where we can give somebody a ride to a clinician.”

He explained that in a situation where somebody is at risk of hurting themselves or others, officers respond “within minutes.” However, if the situation doesn’t appear to require a police response, clinicians can be sent alone, unless they request police support.

Asked by Precinct 7 Councilor Jasper Lapienski whether the diversion rates could eventually mean the need for fewer officers, Police Chief Robert Haigh Jr. responded that the volume of calls wouldn’t necessarily warrant that. He noted the department is currently operating without a downtown walking beat or officers exclusively handling traffic complaints.

“Obviously, our goal is to get out of the mental health field,” said Haigh, who was involved in early conversations about the department partnering with a mental health clinician. “We want to divert it to the people who are more appropriate to handle it. I think these numbers will show you we’re tracking in the right direction. I’m not saying we’re perfect and I’m not saying we’re done.”

Reporter Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Twitter: @MaryEByrne.