ADD TO CALENDARLOGIN TO ADD TO YOUR SCHEDULE

Across the country, law enforcement officers are increasingly expected to act not only as investigators and protectors, but also as mediators, social workers, and often, front-line mental health responders. National estimates indicate approximately 1 in 5 calls for service involve a mental health or substance-related crisis, placing officers at the center of situations that require as much clinical expertise as tactical training.

These calls carry real risk. Encounters involving individuals experiencing mental health crises are more unpredictable and can pose significant danger not only to the person in crisis, but also to the responding officer. At the same time, communities increasingly expect law enforcement to resolve these situations safely, compassionately, and without the criminal justice system’s involvement.

In Cook County, Illinois, mental health calls rapidly increased from 1,712 calls in 2018 to more than 3,000 calls within a few years. In response to these challenges, in 2020, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart launched the Co-Responder Virtual Assistance Program (CVAP), an innovative model that equips officers in the field with secure tablets that can instantly connect a person in crisis with a licensed mental-health clinician from our Treatment Response Team. Since its implementation, these tablets have become more than a device and rather a bridge, giving officers more support and allowing licensed professionals to assist in de-escalation, assessment, and connection to treatment resources.

Today, on-scene clinical consultations have more than doubled, with more than 44 suburban police departments now joined as partners in the program. Unlike traditional co-responder programs that require clinicians to travel to the scene, the virtual model allows a small team of mental health professionals to support officers across multiple departments simultaneously, expanding access while controlling costs. As a result, agencies are seeing fewer repeat crises, fewer hospitalizations, and fewer people cycling endlessly through emergency rooms, jail cells, and courtrooms.

This keynote will explore how technology-enabled co-responder models can help law enforcement agencies meet the growing intersection of public safety and behavioral health. For agencies facing the same rising demand, this model offers a scalable blueprint for modern crisis response, one that supports officers, protects the public, and recognizes that today’s policing challenges often require both a badge and a clinician.

---

BACK
HOME

---