Overview
- City leaders announced Friday that the Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement program will extend hours to 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Friday, and add a second evening shift starting Oct. 12.
- CARE teams pair a licensed mental health clinician with an emergency medical technician to respond to eligible non-violent, non-medical 911 calls or referrals instead of police officers.
- Officials say the program is fully staffed for citywide operations with eight deployed teams and two alternates and that hiring continues to add vans and more personnel.
- The city gave CARE limited-view access to a new computer-aided dispatch system so teams receive filtered call details to better assess situations before they arrive.
- Chicago launched the citywide expansion with $5.2 million in federal relief in May, reported a 51% rise in 911 CARE deployments from May through August, and officials plan to rely on a proposed social media tax for longer-term funding.