Traverse City officer honored for mental health crisis response work
Krista Fryczynski was honored at a Resilience meeting as city data showed the program cut repeat law-enforcement contacts and linked 47 people to care.
A Traverse City officer whose work centers on mental-health, overdose and homelessness calls was honored Thursday morning with the 2025 National Alliance on Mental Illness Michigan Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award. Krista Fryczynski received the recognition during a Resilience Program meeting, putting a spotlight on a model that aims to send people toward care instead of cycling them through arrests.
Fryczynski has been with the Traverse City Police Department since May 2019 and joined the Resilience Program in 2023. The city said the voluntary program, rebranded in 2025 from the Quick Response Team, has operated since 2022 and is designed for people in Traverse City city limits dealing with substance use, mental-health crises, homelessness or a recent overdose. It now works with more than 60 community partner agencies, including Addiction Treatment Services, Grace Episcopal Church - Jubilee House, the Grand Traverse Sheriff’s Office diversion resources, Goodwill Northern Michigan, Munson Family Practice, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health, Northwest Michigan Community Action Agency, Northwest Michigan Supportive Housing, Safe Harbor and Traverse Health Clinic.
City data show why that approach matters in Grand Traverse County. By February 2023, the program had logged 60 referrals and found 47 people eligible for services, with those 47 carrying a combined history of 1,808 documented local law-enforcement calls. Of those referred, 44 had engaged with at least one agency, 25 had completed paperwork to become program participants, 36 were experiencing homelessness, 38 were facing substance-use disorder or overdose crises, and 33 were in mental-health crises. The city also said the QRT-Overdose Response Team responded to all three overdoses reported in city limits at that point in 2023 and followed up within 24 hours in each case.
The public-safety stakes extend well beyond city borders. Grand Traverse County recorded 52 suspected overdoses in 2024, 10 of them fatal, after 97 overdoses and 10 fatal overdoses in 2023. In 2022, the county logged 264 overdoses and 23 fatal overdoses. The city said the county received $4.5 million in opioid settlement funds in 2023 for naloxone, treatment, prevention, education, recovery support and related work.
The department said a University of Michigan evaluation found a statistically significant reduction in law-enforcement contacts for RESILIENCE and QRT participants. The city also said participant and partner interviews in fall 2024 led to changes that included the new name, clearer program materials, more consistent uniforms and better onboarding. Chief Matt Richmond praised Fryczynski’s work ethic and her willingness to help residents and find answers when she did not already have them.
Fryczynski’s role in Traverse City has long extended beyond the award itself. She was named the department’s LGBTQ liaison in October 2021 and now is assigned to the North Boardman neighborhood, where her work has also connected policing with homelessness, the NOBO community and the LGBTQ+ community.
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