Chicago To Dispatch Mental Health Experts On Some 911 Calls Instead Of Cops

and I surely can see how this will play out
untrained unarmed mental health professionals and paramedics sent to a call to subdue a mentally disturbed suspect which are some of the most dangerous situations because the mentally ill aren't rational and very unpredictable


the radical lefts' madness has to stop it's going to get people killed

 

The 'mental health experts' need to start at city hall.

 

If I am ever in Chicago, remind me not to be a mental health expert!

 

Is there a bingo card somewhere for the hilarious fails expected from this? I have a few bucks I’d like to wager.

 

Can’t wait to see the results.

 

Meh. I used to work unarmed security and we got sent to stuff like this, sometimes when there wasn't even any LE on duty to stand by. Granted, it was in a national park and not chicago... but national park concessionaires are not known for their picky hiring. They had a few years prior to my employment been busted for bussing in the homeless to wash dishes and sweep floors, which of course led to a wave of theft and domestic disturbances in the employee housing. They weren't technically (or officially) doing that anymore, but they might as well have been. I was technically homeless when I was hired there...

 

I'm sure positive results will be had in some situations, but overall this will likely fail. Being sympathetic to a mental health situation does not make them less dangerous.

 

They should also send morticians, they’ll be needed.

 

Remove the police assigned to the Mayor's home and replace them with mental health experts. What's good for the Goose is good for the Gander so to speak.

 

Just look six feet down.

 

Dudes... they will set up some softball cases and report back bogus numbers while murders just keep on happening. If it is a serious case, they won't be sent. This is all a scam.

The real goal is to Federalize Policing in the USA. They want Authoritarian Centralized Control.

You're welcome.

 

There'll probably be some "That didn't last long" memes regarding this decision in the near future.

 

It has been done in other areas successfully
https://www.curbed.com/2021/03/denver-social-workers-instead-of-police.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/19/alexandria-kentucky-police-social-workers
https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/03/h...s-not-police-respond-to-mental-health-crises/

But those places are not Chicago
Sad to see so many people appearing to cheer this failing though — I hope it is a resounding success with maybe a uniformed officer being backup

 

In one city over here there trialing a combined evening call out for any emergency calls that might be mental health related. A key point being that people with chronic mental health issues are generally well recorded in both police and local health authority indices because they tend to suffer repeated episodes resulting in repeated call outs. So two mental health workers with their own vehicle are rostered on 'tag team' with two police officers in a patrol car. They attend suspected mental health call outs together with the cops acting as back up and not getting involved unless needed. Which of course they are sometimes.

Seems to be getting good results in terms of resolving conflicts and reducing the need for arrests but its expensive and plenty of rural areas won't have the budget for this kind of thing.

 

An awful lot of those call outs will be threatened suicides in which case you will be better off sending MH than the cops

 

Maybe the over paid and under worked police union membership can use the time that those mental health providers save them to improve that 46% homicide clearance rate that they haven't improved on since 2014...

 

It's not as outrageous as it seems. They've done this in other parts of the country and it's been an asset to those communities. The basic theory behind it is police officers aren't really trained to handle people with mental illness and things can turn ugly fast when someone is being non-compliant and/or combative (there was a post here a few months back about cops killing a kid on the autism spectrum).

Ideally, social workers and law enforcement will work together to handle these situations so it's not like an unarmed person is going into the situation alone. They just offer a different perspective because they have different training. It works very well when they go hand-in-hand and the best part is it the person is more likely to come out of it alive.

 

We'll see how this goes, I'm sure most police would welcome not having to deal with the mentally ill.

 

THIS!!!

 

You and the brain trust, above, just finished saying how spectacularly this was going to fail, because they would not be prepared (i.e., armed) to deal with some of the crazies; now, you say that if they only send them in appropriate situations, that they should be able to handle (instead of the police, who otherwise would be sent), IOW, if they operate the program properly, "it's a scam." The idea of the program is to remove from the plate of the police, cases that would be better handled by mental health, rather than law enforcement, professionals. But, apparently, you're saying, for it not to be a scam, they need to send the mental health workers into situations that clearly call for police?
It would be a nice, for a change, to read a sincere post from you.

How does this, relate to that? How does reducing the workload for Chicago police, of cases for which they are not properly trained, lead to national, federalized policing? It doesn't even make sense. Are you doing something like the Colbert Conservative parody, crossed with an impersonation performance piece (a la Andy Kaufman), to see how much forum support you can generate with nonsensical comments?

 

and the mentally ill that are suicidal can also be violent and very unpredictable, who' say that person threatening suicide won't turn on those mental health experts?

 

no because all this will do is add more to the list of homicides of mental health experts and paramedics

 

Indeed! Mental health professionals have been charged at many times if they work in a facility, and they know how to handle themselves in that situation. Police officers tend to react with their guns in that situation (which I understand), and a needless loss of life occurs. I do, however, think that having one police officer accompany them is not a bad idea. But they would have to be trained and understand when and when not to get involved.

 

It seems that many are not interested in trying new things. Old and traditional ways have not turned out well, but there is great reluctance to attempt a new approach. And it all comes down to politics, which is sad.

 

That's generally how it goes. Many departments have "alliances" with professionals of all types. Some officers are provided training to work alongside those various groups. For example, my younger sister is a Chicago cop. She is also trained as a domestic violence advocate so she is a first responder on those types of calls and helps connect the battered person get the resources they need. In much the same way, there are connections with hospital staff and crisis intervention for rape victims and/or what is basically a "community liaison" person who can help with shelters, food pantries, in-hospitalization mental health resources and aftercare, etc..

In that sense, the police officers that would be called to accompany those types of professionals is also provided some training on differentiating between "real threats" to any party in the vicinity and, for lack of a better word, "soft threats". It's done this way because in a real crisis, the officer has to make split second decisions. It literally could be life-or-death for him or her. By having specific officers (or shared officers across smaller towns) work with specific mental health professionals there is a better chance that nobody will be killed. A social worker just doesn't have the time to explain why "backing off" is a better approach than going in with guns blazing especially when the person is very big and possibly inebriated or high. So, even if the officer(s) arrive first, they are better equipped to either de-escalate the situation or keep it in neutral (and the other person(s) in the area safe until the mental health professional arrives.

It's a really interesting approach. I was already off the force before these kind of programs were implemented but I've been reading about it here and there. What I like about it is it takes a "whole system" approach instead of compartmentalizing the individual aspects of why a person may be in crisis. The benefit of this is not only a reduction in the number of police shootings involving people with mental illnesses, but an increase in citizen satisfaction toward law enforcement personnel in general. One shouldn't be afraid to call the police SOLELY because they are afraid somebody is going to be killed at the scene. And, when we look at police shootings, we often don't talk about the impact it has on the officer. Of course, they have to relinquish their weapon(s) and badge until an investigation is done but that's just part of the post-shooting protocol. Taking someone's life, even if justifiable, is very, very hard emotionally. It's not like a doctor gets better with surgeries. EVERY shooting (even those within the department and not personal) are quite the strain and can often derail a person's career and life. Look what happened a few days after the Capitol riot. Two officers from that department committed suicide. One of the rioters also went home and committed suicide.

This is why I really like where this is headed for our law enforcement and citizens. Another benefit is the people that need mental health intervention are able to get it sooner than would typically be the case without this type of program. It also means that fewer people are arrested and sent to prison when their "crime" leans more toward a mental health crisis versus a bent for crimes or habitual criminality.

Everybody gets to live another day and each new day is an opportunity to work on healing. With these kind of comprehensive community programs, the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!