Chicago Is Expanding 911 Calls That Get A Mental Health Response

Chicago is expanding its Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) program this year, which provides an alternate, non-police response to 911 calls that have a mental health or addiction component.

CARE launched its first on-the-ground team in September 2021 and has since continued to scale-up operations. Some CARE teams pair a mental health professional with a responding paramedic, while other CARE teams include a mental health professional, a paramedic, and crisis intervention team police officer to safely respond to a broader range of calls. In the first 15 months of operations, CARE successfully responded to 539 . . .