In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, Oak Park’s Board of Trustees approved the first phase of the village’s alternative police response to calls for service pilot program, implementing a response to non-mental health-related calls and follow-up connection with services.
The first area of focus for phase one is to provide unarmed response to “low risk” calls for police service that may be unrelated to mental health or behavioral health crises. The other is to hire staff to support the community care navigation model, which connects residents with services such as follow-up care, education and with community partners.
Village officials estimate the start-up costs for phase one of the alternative response pilot program will not exceed $275,000. Trustees have allocated $1.1 million for the full pilot program.
When village staff presented their recommended two-year pilot program at the April 30 board meeting, trustees expressed concerns about a potentially divided response between village-employed mental health professionals and Thrive Counseling Center employees. Village staff are still working on a solution to mental health-related call responses but are moving forward with half of the program first.
The updated proposal for the overall program still has a four-pronged approach, covering responses to low-risk and high-risk mental health calls, as well as community care navigation and non-mental health related calls.
- For low-risk mental health calls, mental health clinicians and peer support specialists would respond. The original proposal included having a paramedic and/or police officer responding.
- For high-risk mental health calls, licensed mental health clinicians, paramedics and crisis intervention trained police officers would respond.
- The community care navigation team would still be intended to follow-up with services for residents who already engaged with other teams.
- The other team in this program would respond to low-risk, non-mental health-related calls for service. These calls would not require an armed police response, so community service officers could respond.
Community care navigation
In the now approved phase one of the pilot program, village staff has recommended hiring one program manager, two mental health clinicians and three community service officers. The program manager and mental health clinicians would implement the community care navigation piece of the model.
The community care navigation team, however, would not directly be dispatched to respond to 911 calls. This team would connect residents who already engaged with emergency responders and need additional support for services and case management. People have autonomy, and aren’t required to accept services, Human Resources Director Kira Tchang pointed out. But the hope is to create a positive transition of services to those ready and willing, she said.
In addition to connecting residents to services, this team would respond to calls made directly to the village or initiated by the village for services related to individuals experiencing homelessness as well as for “traumatic community events,” such as the shooting outside the Oak Park Public Library on April 30 which left one person with a minor wound. This team would likely provide services closer to business hours, Tchang said.
This team may also take on additional responsibilities in the second phase of the pilot program. It would be ideal for them to give input for the second phase’s design, but it depends on timing for hiring and onboarding, Tchang said.
Tchang said village staff are still recommending having some in-house mental health staff so their expertise can be a resource for the village, to understand what training might be needed for village staff and to better serve the community.
Additionally, village staff recommend reestablishing agreements with Oak Park Township to bolster community care navigation through the township’s youth engagement program and senior services program.
Community service officers
The three community service officers, who are unarmed civilian members of the Oak Park Police Department, would respond to low-risk calls for service that are not mental health or behavioral health-related. These could include calls for incidents such as property damage, minor thefts, car accidents, falls and other injuries on public property, according to village officials.
Dave Jacobson, Oak Park deputy police chief, said these unarmed officers would likely be sent to get crisis intervention training, like armed officers. The three officers are an increase from the original proposal, which recommended two. That’s so they can serve the community during a broader window of time, Tchang said.
Several board members expressed their desire to not duplicate services in the village as the program unfolds, a common sentiment at the April 30 meeting. Tchang said the pilot program is intended to better collaborate with partners and connect residents with the right organizations. For instance, Housing Forward supports individuals experiencing homelessness in 26 communities in west suburban Cook County. So, this program would be intended to aid them and other community partners in their work, not duplicate it.
“There is a lot of need there, and there are not enough resources to resolve it,” Tchang said. “We are not trying to create new things when new things don’t need to be created. We’re trying to set the conditions, through this program, in order to be a better collaborator, to better use the resources and to make sure that all of our intergovernmental bodies are coordinating.”
Village Manager Kevin Jackson said staff intend to provide data and metrics showing how successful this program is moving forward.
Village staff are still working on partnerships to respond to calls for service that are mental health or behavior health-related. According to officials, village staff have met with Thrive, Oak Park Township and Housing Forward since the April 30 meeting to discuss possibilities. Village staff are tentatively planning to bring a recommendation for the second phase of the pilot program in fall 2024. Communicating the existence of this program will also be part of the next steps.