Evanston to send crisis responders to low-risk 911 calls instead of police officers

For the past four weeks a team of crisis responders have been training around the clock, gearing up to hit the streets of Evanston.

Members of the city's new C.A.R.E. team have learned about de-escalation methods, situational awareness, CPR, and first aid.

“We really got to know each other and so I think we have a really good team to get started to do this work,” said Jeron Dorsey, the direct supervisor of the city’s C.A.R.E. program.

C.A.R.E., the Crisis Alternative Response Evanston Program, is a city initiative to re-imagine public safety by providing a non-police response to low-level low risk emergency calls.

“The biggest thing is building relationships in the community that really need help and being able to provide those resources without always needing a police response is something I think every community should have,” Dorsey said.

Dispatchers at the emergency call center will be tasked with routing some of those calls, including nuisance complaints, well-being checks, ordinance violations, and even mental health.

“The goal is to de-escalate so once they’re there, they’ll use their training to de-escalate the situation so hopefully there is no need for a police response, but the police will be on call just in case they feel like the police is necessary,” explained Audrey Thompson, who is Evanston's Parks Recreation and Community Services director.

The responders will wear a burgundy-colored polo and work in teams of two in the community using their personal and professional experiences to address every 911 or 311 call.

“I also think their lived experience along with the training is what gives me hope for them to really succeed,” Thompson said. "...They lived some of this, their family members have experience some of this, and lived some of this. Much of this they already know how to communicate with someone because they either lived it or experience it with a loved one, a friend, or someone else they eve worked with professionally.”

The program operates independently from the police department. An Evanston Police Department officials explained he believes it will ease the burden on officers.

“I think it’s important to understand that law enforcement overall has changed, community perspective has changed,” said Cmdr. Scott Sophier. “We know as a society for an incredibly long time the police have been relied upon to deal with challenges that aren’t necessarily law enforcement related.”

The team rolls out on Monday with a soft launch, the direct supervisor of the program hopes they will make a difference.

“We’ll learn a lot as we go on,” said Dorsey. “But I think the community should be very confident in our team’s ability to do this type of work.”

Crisis responders will work seven days a week from 1 to 10 p.m. City officials will reassess every 90 days to see if they need to make any changes to the program.