Forest Park, Oak Park and River Forest are now a part of a statewide effort to have mental health professionals respond to certain 911 calls, instead of local police.
In 2021, Gov. JB Pritzker signed the Community Emergency Services and Supports Act into law. The law requires mental health referrals instead of police response in some situations. Since the law passed, the Illinois Department of Human Services has been working with the Illinois State Police, EMS administrators under the purview of the Illinois Department of Public Health, plus state and regional advisory committees to fully implement the law by July 1, 2027.
Late last year, the first cohort of about 20 out of 175 dispatch centers in Illinois started training, including the West Suburban Consolidated Dispatch Center, which connects 911 callers in Forest Park, Oak Park and River Forest to emergency resources.
Brian Staunton, executive director of the West Suburban Consolidated Dispatch Center, said he thinks their dispatch center was chosen for the first cohort because it has a mid-size center. Last year, WSCDC answered 120,000 calls, about 75,000 of which were emergency 911 calls.
As a part of the law’s first cohort, Staunton said the state is training WSCDC to provide mental health resources to first-party callers with a level one risk matrix, or those who are nonviolent, don’tseem intoxicated, and present no threat of harm or property damage. With these callers who give consent, WSCDC transfers their call to 988, the national mental health crisis line. Staunton said 988 tries to deescalate situations over the phone and, if needed, dispatches mobile care response teams. In the Oak Park area, for example, Thrive Counseling Center’s 24/7 crisis support could be sent to make contact with a caller.
“The goal is to dispatch mental and behavioral health concerns to trained professionals that specialize in treating patients with these needs, rather than sending police or EMS on these calls, unless immediate assistance is required,” Forest Park Village Administrator Rachell Entler told the Review.
Staunton said that, if a caller isn’t the person in need of help, or if they aren’t experiencing a level one risk matrix, WSCDC will dispatch the appropriate police or fire department. He said that encapsulates most of the calls WSCDC gets.
“How much of a grand effect is this going to have on our operation or the village’s operation? It’s something we’ll have to see, but I don’t think it’s going to have a big impact,” Staunton said of implementing the first part of CESSA.
Staunton added that the hope is that, once all the state’s dispatch centers are trained to address first-party caller, level-one risk matrices, they will next be trained to dispatch mental health services for second- and third-party callers and for level-two risk matrices — which could include minor self-injurious behavior, verbal threats and serious mental illness that poses no immediate risk to harm oneself or others.
“People who need help should still call 911, and we can give them the proper resources at the proper time. That’s always the goal,” Staunton said. He added that, as a part of the state’s first cohort to implement CESSA, his dispatch center will “continue to communicate together and build something to better serve the community and give them support.”