Shouldering the burden

BUFFALO — The number of mental-health related calls and the severity of the calls that come into Johnson County's dispatch center have increased over the past few years, but mental health services haven't increased to match, Johnson County Sheriff Rod Odenbach said.

Unmet mental health needs can sometimes lead to law enforcement involvement when they reach a crisis point. Once law enforcement is involved, Odenbach said, those agencies sometimes don't have enough resources to provide the services people may need.

Allen Thompson, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chie...