Northbrook police responding to calls involving a “mental health crisis” can now quickly get help from professionals that is as close as an electronic tablet or cellphone, authorities said.
The village is the latest community to join the Cook County Sheriff Department’s Treatment Response Team Co-responder Virtual Assistance Program, which allows officers to connect “distressed individuals” with TRT mental health workers and clinicians via video conferencing on an electronic tablet or by phone, authorities said.
“It’s really a terrific thing,” Northbrook police Chief Christopher Kennedy said. “I’m really happy we’re doing it. I think it’s going to serve our community very well.”
The Northbrook police department is the third Cook County law enforcement agency municipality to sign up for the Cook County Sheriff’s Treatment Response Team (TRT) Co-responder Virtual Assistance Program (CVAP), which provides mental health co-response to police officers when they respond to calls involving mental health crises. The program will primarily be used overnight and on weekends.
One of the unique aspects of the program is it allows responding officers to utilize the TRT’s Co-responder Virtual Assistance Program (CVAP) to connect “distressed individuals” with TRT mental health workers and clinicians via video conferencing on an electronic tablet or by phone, authorities said. They said TRT staff will then connect these individuals with staff from the Northbrook police department’s counseling services unit, who will help connect them with appropriate services and resources.
Kennedy said the partnership is a complement to the department’s long-standing embedded professional counseling care, which has been part of the department for over 40 years. But he also said the CVAP is a “powerful tool” to safely de-escalate potentially volatile situations, as well as to provide aftercare and case management for individuals who need mental health services.
“There is no typical call involving mental health issues,” said Kennedy. “The officer has to triage and grasp what’s taking place and then they can determine if it’s a volatile situation or is it an after the fact situation where maybe there’s an overdose at the location and we want to have someone quickly reach out and there’s a warm handoff to our in-house clinicians.”
“There are myriad of events that could take place,” he added. “It underscores the need for us to have different paths to take.”
The program was initially provided to Sheriff’s Police, which now has 120 electronic tablets distributed to officers and supervisors, authorities said. They said that in August 2021, the Oak Lawn Police Department entered an agreement to utilize CVAP, and the Blue Island Police Department joined in November.
“We are excited to partner with the Northbrook Police Department, which for years has understood the importance of addressing the mental health needs of the people they serve,” Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said in a release.
“Historically, law enforcement agencies have primarily focused on the immediate criminal or public safety concern, with less concern about the underlying causes that have led to the immediate crisis,” he added. “We believe partnerships like the one between Northbrook and my office can reduce unnecessary arrest and involvement in the legal system and connect individuals with the resources they need to treat or manage their mental health concerns.”
Kennedy also noted that the program will not cost Northbrook anything.
“Anytime we can give our officers more options and different ways to look at a problem without impacting budgets, it’s really a win,” he said.
And 911 calls for service including a mental health component have steadily increased across the country and are only expected to continue to rise in the wake of the stress people have experienced during the pandemic, said Kennedy.
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“During COVID law enforcement in general saw there was a rise in mental health issues, more calls that we were responding to where that was an undertone,” he explained.
In 2018, Cook County Sheriff’s Police responded to 1,712 calls for service involving mental health. In 2021, the number of calls exceeded 3,000 and, in the first two months of 2022, calls have outpaced those for the same period last year. Since it began, the co-responder program has been utilized by Sheriff’s Police, Oak Lawn police, and Blue Island police more than 170 times, authorities said.
“Police want to solve problems,” Kennedy said. “There’s been times in my career where there weren’t options there. This really affords us those options.”
Brian L. Cox is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.