The Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement program launched has helped many, officials said, but the program has been limited in many ways.
Mental health clinician Gabrielle Mitchell and Chicago police Officer Dantra Daniel, both members of the city’s Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement team, get into their van to start their work day, JUly 14, 2022.
Police have taken a lead in the CARE program when they should not be involved at all in matters that are a public health issue, some said. The briefing is part of their morning routine. Afterward, the team members grabbed their equipment — and some clothes and shoes they give out to people in need — and headed out in three vans.
“She felt like somebody was trying to poison her. She was very paranoid, thought people were following her,” Garross said. “My officer heard it and said, ‘Wait, what’s going on?’ And so we went out there and so we were able to engage with her.” “They’ve been trying to manage them at home for some time,” Mitchell said. “Often, it’s years, sometimes it’s decades where ... they’re not connected to any provider.”
The idea for Chicago’s program started in 2019, when the then-Crisis Intervention Advisory Council made 33 recommendations to the city of Chicago, including one to develop alternate response models. In 2020 city officials started developing one, looking to similar programs in cities like Dallas, New York and Denver, among others.
The pilot program costs between $3 million and $4 million a year and is largely funded through the city’s general operating fund, Richards said. The largest expense of the program is salaries, which are paid to team members through their corresponding departments. As part of the 2022 budget, city officials dedicated $15 million of the city’s $1.887 billion in American Rescue Plan federal funding for the program’s future expenses, Richards said.
Police separated the family members, tried to calm them down, and handed the man a smart pad to talk to a counselor. It turned out the man’s girlfriend had broken up with him, his grandmother had died that day, and he was addicted to pain pills. Cook County sheriff’s police Sgt. Bonnie Busching said that initially, she was skeptical of adding another layer of bureaucracy to the chaotic situations she walks into.
Officers referred the case to social worker Alana Bak, who met with the woman and connected her to a counselor. The counselor was able to get the woman back on her medications, and she was able to find a stable home and get back on her feet.Bak, who directs the program, has family in law enforcement. As a psychotherapist who’s worked with sex offenders and the severely mentally ill, she hopes the new program will help both the police and the people they are called to serve.
“It’s really hard in the moment when you’re doing crisis work and what they need is that medication refill or just to be evaluated by a psychiatrist,” Garross said.None of the calls the co-response teams have responded to have resulted in use of force or arrests, according to the data dashboard, something Richards said shows the program’s success so far.
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