Burnsville police bring on U of M psychiatrists in mental health cases in novel partnership
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In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Burnsville Police and Fire Department’s Behavioral Health Unit is now working with University of Minnesota psychiatrists to better respond to mental health calls.
The unit currently includes a police sergeant, three police officers, a firefighter-paramedic from the Burnsville Fire Department, an embedded social worker from Dakota County and a crisis-trained K9.
Now that team will have the addition of psychiatrists and psychologists who will help in a consultation role.
The behavioral health unit was created in 2021 after Burnsville Police Sgt. Max Yakovlev noticed he was consistently responding to the same people having mental health crises but was not equipped to help them.
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The team has grown in support throughout the years, to the point where many of the people they serve now, don’t end up calling again.
“Our goal from our unit is to trying to figure out what the what the root cause of the actual crisis is, versus just putting a Band-Aid on somebody and moving on,” Sgt. Yakovlev told Minnesota Now host Nina Moini.
The U of M partnership is also helping achieve that goal by not only being a clinical consultant, but also being the resource that the unit can connect patients to, to create a continuum of care.
“What we hope to bring to it is connection with sort of upstream targeted types of referrals for individuals in crisis,” said Dr. Sophia Albott, who is a psychiatrist working in the partnership.
Even though the unit has been able to limit calls from the same person, the amount of calls has grown. In 2025, the unit responded to about 870 calls. From Jan. to June of 2026, they’ve already responded to more than 900 calls.
Sgt. Yakovlev said it’s due to both increased awareness and comfort with the unit, but also a decrease of funding social services.
“They actually are calling 911 because they don't know where else to call,” he said.
Dr. Albott hopes this partnership can become a model for other law enforcement agencies as the need for mental health care grows.
Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation with Minnesota Now host Nina Moini and Sgt. Yakovlev and Dr. Albott.
Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
