CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Mental health advocates and experts are increasing pressure on the Lightfoot Administration to scrap its plan for teaming police officers with mental health professionals on 9-1-1 calls.
Several aldermen have proposed a system under which police would be bypassed entirely for some calls involving mental-health crises.
Dr. Nacole Milbrook, chief program officer at Youth Guidance, said police should not be the first to respond in some cases, even if accompanied by psychologists or others with training.
“The co-responder crisis-intervention model proposed by the mayor, while well-meaning, is not fully trauma informed,” Milbrook said Wednesday. “Sending police to mental-health crises criminalizes mental-health struggles, rather than providing adequate care.”
Estela Diaz of the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council said she has suffered from depression since childhood. Whenever she gets a panic attack in the streets, she said, she's afraid police will arrive and make things worse.
Mayor Lightfoot says the infrastructure for non-police responses to 9-1-1 calls isn’t there right now.
Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez said there’s been some progress in getting Lightfoot to commit more money for such a system.
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