Santa Maria Police Department to create a co-response team with Behavioral Wellness and last updated 2021-06-30 23:28:54-04 The Santa Maria Police Department is working to strengthen its mental health response and services. Since January, according to the Santa Maria Police Department, approximately 400 calls have been identified as mental health-related. Crisis Intervention Officer Max Shaffer has been the only officer fully dedicated to mental health response and services. "If it's someone I know that I have dealt with a bunch that I feel comfortable with, I am fine going out by myself. If it's an unknown or a new problem that we don't know about, I do go out with a patrol officer just in case,â Shaffer said.