Evanston CARE team will respond to low-risk emergency calls – NBC Chicago

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

Members of the city’s new CARE team have learned de-escalation techniques, situational awareness, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid.

“We’ve gotten to know each other really well and I think we’re a really good team to get started on this work,” said Jeron Dorsey, the direct director of the city’s CARE program.

CARE, the Crisis Alternative Response Evanston Program, is a city initiative that seeks to redefine public safety by enabling a non-police response to low-risk emergency calls.

“The most important thing is to build relationships with the people who really need help. And I believe every community should be able to provide those resources without always having to involve the police,” Dorsey said.

Emergency dispatchers are tasked with handling some of these calls, including complaints of harassment, health checks, code violations and even cases of mental illness.

“The goal is de-escalation. So when they get there, they’ll use their training to de-escalate the situation so that hopefully police involvement isn’t necessary. But police will be on call if they feel police involvement is necessary,” said Audrey Thompson, director of Evanston’s recreation and community services department.

Wearing a burgundy polo shirt, the volunteers work in teams of two on site, drawing on their personal and professional experience to respond to each emergency call.

“I also think their life experience and the education they’ve received gives me hope that they’re really going to be successful,” Thompson said. “…They’ve experienced some of this themselves, their family members have experienced some of this, and they’ve experienced some of this themselves. A lot of it, they already know how to communicate with somebody because they’ve either experienced it themselves or experienced it with a loved one, a friend, or somebody else they’ve ever worked with professionally.”

The program will be operated independently of the police department. An Evanston Police Department official said he believes it will reduce the burden on officers.

“I think it’s important to understand that law enforcement as a whole has changed, society’s view has changed,” said Commander Scott Sophier. “We know that for an incredibly long time as a society we have relied on the police to deal with challenges that are not necessarily related to law enforcement.”

The team is starting a soft launch on Monday and the program’s direct manager hopes it will make a difference.

“We’ll learn a lot as we go along,” Dorsey said. “But I think the community should have a lot of confidence in our team’s ability to do this kind of work.”

Crisis responders will work seven days a week from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. City officials will re-evaluate the program every 90 days to determine if any changes to the program are needed.