Bucks County Co-Responder Now Aiding Warminster Police

WARMINSTER, PA —Bucks County’s newest Human Services Co-Responder is now working out of three police departments, helping to connect in-need residents with social services and divert them away from the criminal justice system.

Based out of the Warrington Township Police Department, Katrina Mattioni started working on June 5 with officers in Warminster, Warrington, and Warwick townships.

The program pairs social service and mental health professionals, known as Co-Responders, with police officers in an effort to divert people with social and mental health needs away from the criminal justice system.

Co-responders are social workers who work collaboratively with police and social services agencies to serve people who come into contact with police who are in need of social services.

The Co-Responders are available to respond to situations involving mental health and social services and to follow up on referrals and cases, freeing up police for patrol, emergencies and public safety.

With the addition of Mattioni to the co-responders’ team, Bucks County social workers are now working alongside police in 18 departments covering Upper, Central, and Lower Bucks.

Mattioni was hired at a salary of $59,000.

“It is a testament to the amazing job done every day by the people in our Human Services Division that we have managed in just three years to bring the Co-Responder Program to all regions of Bucks County,” said Commissioner Vice Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia. “We are incredibly thankful to our Co-Responders for the important work they do, and to our police officers and municipal leaders for welcoming these important efforts into their communities.”

The co-responders have served more than 1,100 people since the program started in late 2020. Most referrals are for mental health.

In April,Warminster Township Supervisors signed on for a two-year trial, from June 21 until May 31, 2025.

"Our police are very, very busy," Township Supervisors Chairman Kenneth Hayes said at the time. "They will take calls away from the police department. This will help reduce their time."

The program is funded through a Bucks County grant. Once the pilot program ends, municipalities would decide whether to continue the program.

The Co-Responder program was first piloted by the county in 2020 in Bensalem. It has since been expanded to Middletown, Falls, and Bristol Townships and to Bristol Borough and Tullytown Borough.

The program is designed to:

• Decrease the time law enforcement spends in response to a situation involving social service needs;
• Provide a more effective emergency response through the addition of clinical-informed support and an enhanced community resource knowledge base;
• Ensure those who outreach for an emergency response receive timely and streamlined connection to resources to address their social service needs; and
• Divert individuals with primary social service needs from further penetration into the criminal justice system.