How Oak Park shapes its response to 911 calls involving behavioral or mental health issues is now under discussion by village trustees. Options include building out a response program involving mental health practitioners hired within the village or to outsource much of the work to the local Thrive Counseling Center.
An early consensus among trustees is to expand the role of Thrive, an Oak Park-based nonprofit which has long worked under contract to the village and its police department.
When the two-year pilot program for alternative police response was formally proposed on April 30, community members and mental health professionals pushed for a closer working relationship with Thrive.
So, trustees sent the plans back for review. On June 11, Oak Park trustees unanimously voted to implement the first phase of the pilot program. That included a response to non-mental-health-related calls and follow-up connection with services. The village is still hiring to fill roles associated with this phase, including a program manager, two mental health clinicians and community service officers.
But the village board said at a meeting Nov. 12 that it wanted further input from the original taskforce formed to consider the issue. The discussion is expected to come back to village trustees in early 2025.
Village-led phase two
Between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024, Oak Park received more than 49,000 calls through 911. According to Kira Tchang, the village’s human resources director, more than 20% of those calls, or about 10,000, would have been a “good fit” for alternative response. The intent with phase two, she said, is to tackle most, if not all, of those types of calls.
In a village-led second phase, there would be a community care team to respond to low risk behavioral or mental-health related calls and a co-response team to respond to high-risk ones.
The community care team would have a mental health clinician, peer support specialist, paramedic and police officer respond as needed. Low risk calls could include a confused person, a call about a panhandler or a fall. In a low-risk call, the police officer would check the scene is safe and then peel away if they aren’t needed.
“One of the primary goals of this program overall … is to keep armed officers out of some of these interactions,” Trustee Susan Buchanan said. “I am just a little wary about bringing all these service into the village and … working that closely with the police when we are trying to disengage from the police being involved in every case.”
The pilot program would essentially be adding resources to a traditional first responder dispatch, Tchang said. Whoever would usually respond, will still respond, with added resources. As the team gathers data, the program could adjust who responds moving forward, potentially further limiting police response.
The co-response team would have a licensed mental health clinician, paramedic and police officer respond. High-risk calls could include overdose, domestic disturbance or suicide ideation.
Tchang explained that most of Oak Park’s 911 calls are received during typical working hours, peaking around 3 p.m., Monday to Friday. So, the village is proposing operating five to seven days a week, for 10 to 12 hours per day. Staff would also be on call for overnight and weekend calls.
The village teams would be on scene within 10 minutes during program operating hours, and within 30 minutes overnight and on weekends.
The benefits of a village-led phase two, Tchang said, include increased transparency and public accountability, more consistency and agility to adapt as needed, and investment of resources like taxpayer dollars into community needs. The village-led program is estimated to initially cost about $600,000.
Thrive-led phase two
For a Thrive-led second phase to the pilot program, response efforts would be split into tier one and tier two. Tier one would be moderate to high risk behavioral or mental health-related calls and tier two would be low risk ones.
In both tiers, a crisis therapist, engagement specialist, paramedic and police officer as needed would respond. The difference is that in a low-risk situation, the police officer would only check that the scene is safe and then depart if not needed.
Thrive is proposing hours for operation to be either Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to midnight or Monday to Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. They would also have staff on call overnight and over weekends, with slower response times.
One of the driving factors behind the pilot program, now being referred to as Oak Park ECHO, or Engaging Communities for Healthy Outcomes, was Illinois passing the Community Emergency Services and Support Act in 2021.
But CESSA’s implementation has been delayed since then and is now expected in 2025. This act would allow 911 dispatchers to contact providers like Thrive directly to respond to a scene. Now, the 911 dispatcher can only reach out to the village, then leaving police to contact Thrive. CESSA would cut out that middleman, meaning quicker response times to a behavioral or mental health crisis.
Police typically arrive on scene within three to 10 minutes, according to Police Chief Shatonya Johnson. Thrive teams would be on scene in about 15 minutes during program hours, after being notified by police. It could be quicker when aspects of CESSA are implemented. And Thrive teams would be on scene within 60 minutes for overnight and weekend calls.
Trustee Lucia Robinson said she’s concerned about the longer response time but pointed out that Thrive has the higher level of expertise needed for this program.
“I really appreciate the idea of it being an outside social service provider,” Trustee Brian Straw said. “I think that the integration with the other mental health services that Thrive offers and the hand-offs that they already have great experience doing within the community is a real benefit.”
Village President Vicki Scaman said she was interested in a hybrid model, so as to ensure that Thrive employees aren’t being taken away from other mental health crisis issues to respond to low-risk calls that don’t require police.
The benefits of a Thrive-led program, Tchang said, include expertise and experience, reduction of village legal and financial liability, and reduced administrative burden for the village. The Thrive-led program would initially cost about $655,000.
The pilot program will be evaluated throughout implementation to determine if changes need to be made moving forward.