After many months of hard work and planning, the Community Intervention Program (CIP) went live today at 10:00 AM. CIP was designed to be dispatched through the 911 system and respond to calls for mental health, substance use-related crises, and other non-criminal behavior, relying on de-escalation and harm reduction techniques to resolve situations that might not require law enforcement personnel. The CIP team will be dispatched to calls for service within the City of Cortez, Montezuma County, the Town of Dolores, and the Town of Mancos. The goal of the CIP team is to reduce the call burden for Fire, EMS, and Police. The CIP team is a two-person team consisting of a behavioral health professional and an EMT. The behavioral health professional will address mental health needs while the EMT will provide needed medical attention. The new program is overseen by Montezuma County and was co-funded through American Rescue Plan Act dollars contributed by the City of Cortez, County of Montezuma County, the Town of Dolores, and the Town of Mancos.

Congratulations to all who have invested their time and energy in creating this program over the last two years. We appreciate all your efforts on behalf of those who will benefit from this innovative, much-needed service.