The City of Evanston is now looking to hire and train community responders for a new program that will launch in a couple of months.
“We can’t wait to hit the ground running,” Mayor Daniel Biss said. “We really think this is going to make a difference for our community.”
Biss said Evanston's city council voted unanimously this week to approve the Community Responder Program, which has been in the making for years.
“If you think about all the different things that we ask police officers to do it’s impossible, why on earth would you expect the same person as best equipped to respond to gunfire to do a traffic stop, do a death investigation, to respond to mental health crises, to help someone who is unhoused find housing,” he said.
So how does the program work? The mayor said rather than sending police officers to respond to every 911 call, he believes there are ten types of calls that could be routed to community responders.
“When you call 911, a dispatcher will be trained to understand what calls require an officer or what calls require a firefighter, what calls require a community responder,” he said. “Obviously it’s an important decision, so we’re going to have to go through a lot of training to make sure they’re prepared to make that key life and death decision in a way that keeps everybody safe.”
The list of calls includes nuisance complaint, well-being checks, panhandlers, vagrant, leaf blower violations, city ordinance violations, miscellaneous public services, mental health, soliciting complaint, and lost/confused person.
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“We’ll have specialization make sure the police officers are used for the problems that require officers and the community responders will address the problems that are best solved by somebody else,” he said.
The mayor said they’re looking to add a program manager and four community responders, who will work in two teams of two.
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“You could imagine someone who is a social worker, someone who is involved in psychology being a really excellent candidate,” he said. “You can also imagine someone with lived experience, someone themselves who have undergone the struggles and can connect most effectively with people in need.”
Community responders will be part of the outreach team at the Parks and Recreation Department and when not responding to calls the mayor said they’ll work on community engagement and establishing trust.
“If every single time somebody calls 911 a police officer shows up at their house, that’s a one size fits all approach,” he said. “What this is sensitive, it’s thoughtful, it’s efficient to make sure we’re using the resources we have to solve the problems in our communities in the most effective way possible.”
The mayor said they hope to have the program up and running by this summer.
Evanston Police Chief Schenita Stewart issued a statement to NBC Chicago:
“The significance of introducing a Community Responder program in Evanston cannot be understated. Sworn and civilian staff at the Evanston Police Department will undergo extensive training prior to the program rolling out. Ongoing meetings to build relationships between the Police Department, outreach workers, and the newly hired staff will help to build the strong partnership that will make this program a success.”
