BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Madonna O'Conner is a mother who has been trying to help her struggling daughter who is going through addiction and mental health issues.

She said she believes the Melbourne Police Department Mobile Crisis Co-Responder Team (MRT) saved her child's life.

"They know their stuff. These are professional people," O'Connor said. "They come out. They're not judgmental. They are compassionate, They are kind."

The initiative is helping more and more people needing mental health services while freeing up officers to work police-related calls.

Sgt. Ben Slover is a 25-year law enforcement veteran, and he has seen it all working the beat — crime, sadness, good things and bad.

Slover is a strong proponent of community policing and interacting with the people he and his department serves.

It's key to be on their toes every day.

"No two days are the same, and complacency is a problem for law enforcement, and when you get to the point where you start thinking that it's just another day, that's when you let your guard down and something bad can happen," Slover said.

And sadly, the bad can and will happen. That's why they train.

But one area officers like Slover have struggled with over the years are calls where mental health or illness is involved.

There weren't resources available for them to help people in crisis.

"We get basic stuff, we know how to talk to people and try to de-escalate, but that's not going to solve all the issues, and it's not going to be a complete solution to the problems people are facing," he said.

The first call for help was always to police.

But now the Melbourne Police Department has an MRT trained in helping in these situations.

It has only been around since mid-2022, and only been fully staffed with six case managers since May.

Now that officers are used to their services being available for calls, the number of responses to help have more than tripled.

Program Manager Abby Pease says they've had 325 crisis responses since the beginning of the year.

"So we've been able to go out, establish support for those people, get them into therapy, get them medication management, whatever that may look like, so they are calling us, and their other natural supports for help, versus calling 911," Pease said.

Those in need can directly communicate with the MRT instead, freeing up police officers to go on calls for service.

"Every minute we don't have to spend following up on anything that's not a police-related issue gives us more time to respond to, patrolling, crime and addressing situations like that," Slover said.

The Multi Co-Response Team is a partnership with the Brevard C.A.R.E.S program.