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Aurora Police Dept. Teams Up With Social Workers For ‘Crisis Intervention Team Enhanced’

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 5:45 PM PT – Sunday, November 22, 2020

The Aurora Police Department in Illinois teamed up with a family service association for a program called ‘Crisis Intervention Team Enhanced.’

The team consists of 35 officers and social workers with an additional four social work interns. Together they respond to incoming calls of distress or panic.

“A lot of the calls that we usually respond to are individuals that are presenting crisis that often have suicidal ideation,” social worker Janeth Barba said. “So they might be calling [for] themselves in a panic.”

The goal of the team is to quickly de-escalate the situation, assess those in crisis and get them the help they need. Officials said the partnership makes for a better impact on the individuals.

“It’s something we probably should have done a long time ago, but again, we have the mindset in this culture that we are law enforcement,” Detective Douglas Rashkow of the Aurora Police Department stated. “But again, we’re peacekeepers more than anything else.”

The program staff set out to help 500 people since launching earlier this year. They have surpassed their goal by helping more than 700 individuals so far.

Officers are extremely proud of the progress they’ve made and said the outcome has been nothing short of tremendous. Officials added that they were able to provide a number of individuals with mental health services rather than arresting them or issuing a citation.

We do something like that here. Honestly I think you’ll find that most officers don’t like being thrust in those situations where the results are lose-lose at the patrol level. Our only complaint with our program is they aren’t usually working late at night. That, and there are problem people who they still can’t come up with a solution for.

How widespread are these programs? Any injuries or deaths to the social workers?

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Originally posted by 12131:
How widespread are these programs? Any injuries or deaths to the social workers?

We have them too except they work for with the Fire Department as it was easier to get the donations and money added to their budget to fund it.

Injury or death is likely not going to happen often. The social workers aren’t going to be the first ones to arrive.
Uniformed patrol and a responding ambulance and fire engine will, then request the social workers to the scene.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
How widespread are these programs? Any injuries or deaths to the social workers?

Not sure on the first question. Our social workers are always accompanied by officers. Patrol responds first, deals with actual danger then the special unit shows up with their officers/social worker. Often requested while officers are enroute. I’ve been in a few hairy situations with them on scene. The social workers were kept in a safe spot. They can’t fix everything but they are a good tool. Another problem is they are usually 20+ minutes away, patrol tries to buy time for them to take over. Unfortunately sometimes the person in crisis ain’t selling any time.

Its an innovative program. But my guess is it will come to a halt when one of the Social Workers is shot.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
How widespread are these programs? Any injuries or deaths to the social workers?

Very and growing. CIT with cops only is extremely common. Co-responder model is gaining traction. The hardest part is getting people that want to do social work in the field in this way. Chongo is right that these aren't the calls that most cops want to go on. Programs like CIT and co-responder models are a good way to make these things for manageable for cops.

Where I work, everybody goes through CIT training. We have a mobile crisis service we can call to come out and talk to people that don't necessarily need hospitalization. Ideally, the cops that excel at these types of calls try to go on them when possible. Helps the knuckle draggers like me. We don't put non-police personnel into scenes with people who do not want their help.

Our local city PD has this kind of program.

I don't see anything wrong with the general idea or at least trying it, when and where appropriate. The "defund the police" crowd, however, thinks the social workers should and can be a substitute for the police, and that dog just won't hunt.

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Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Its an innovative program. But my guess is it will come to a halt when one of the Social Workers is shot.

Yep. I think any agency with the authority to use deadly force ought to be used narrowly.

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Originally posted by DaBigBR:
CIT with cops only is extremely common.

Yep. Most of the larger agencies around here do that, using CIT trained officers but no social workers.

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Where I work, everybody goes through CIT training.

It's common for all officers to receive basic instruction, and then for there for be a select few with higher level training and certification as specialists.

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We have a mobile crisis service we can call to come out and talk to people that don't necessarily need hospitalization.

We don't have a mobile unit with mental health professionals to respond on scene, but recently opened a crisis stabilization unit where people taken into custody in situations like these can be transported in lieu of jail, to be assessed and triaged for further mental health care.

If I recall, other members can correct or, fill-in the blanks. Berkeley, CA had a crises intervention team or, something like that set-up to deal with non-violent or, clear mental issues about 5-6 years ago.

911 would get the call and they'd dispatch either PD, FD or, this new team. Team was made up of 10-12 people, had jackets (in lieu of uniforms), cell phones and a couple of vehicles assigned. Within a year, over half the people quit because the work was too stressful, didn't realize how violent situations evolved to, or, didn't like the hours. Yeah, graveyard and swing had the most calls, imagine that. Down to only only 5 members, two quit as there was zero career path or, promotion opportunities and funding dried up.

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Crisis Intervention Team Enhanced’

CITE? Well, I suppose it's better than Special Homicide Investigation Team. Will it be overseen by the Director Of Police Investigations?

Starting a similar program here in Anchorage. I have my doubts, but I hope it works. In a lot of these situations what happens is police or fire respond to the call and then drop the individual off at the ER for us to solve their problems. Hopefully this new approach may reduce that scenario.

Very few of the incidents that have made the news recently (where we have video to see what actually happened) allowed the time for a social worker to do any good.
Many were calls for criminal and often violent behavior that are not appropriate for a social workers intervention.
When the bodies start to stack up, I suspect we'll see most of this quietly go away.
In spite of the "if it saves just one life" mentality, cops don't want to shoot people that don't need to get shot. They live with the aftermath even when there were no other good options.