Arlington Heights Cops See Crisis Intervention Successes

Arlington Heights police had been seeing homeless people in the downtown, particularly near the train station, whose behavior was alarming and getting out of control in the last few years.

But the department’s Crisis Intervention Team has helped not only curb such incidents, it also has helped some of the homeless find a new place to live, Police Chief Gerald Mourning said.

A 30-month grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority allowed Arlington Heights police to team up with Alexian Brothers Center for Mental Health to do outreach in the homeless community, the chief said during a recent budget workshop where he updated the status of the project.

Officers also received specialized training on how to deal with the homeless in a noncriminal way, the chief said. The training helped officers develop special skills to deal with the mentally ill or addicts to avoid escalation, he said.

In addition to training, police recommended making changes to village ordinances like not allowing the sale of single cans of alcohol, Mourning said. Police noticed many of the homeless have alcohol dependency issues. Learning to deal with alcoholics or the mentally ill has helped officers handle situations that arise with the homeless, he said.

Police have arrested some of the homeless for violating local ordinances, he said. But, overall, the crisis intervention outreach has helped, he said.

“Here’s the payout, 78 clients have received long term services, counseling or treatment. What’s more is 24 individuals have permanent housing rather than being homeless,” Mourning said.

“This ties in with a reduction (of incidents) in the downtown area, particularly (near) the train station, of unwanted behavior that was, frankly, getting out of control,” he said.

About 25 percent of the department received the training and a goal in the upcoming year is to train more officers, he said.