Oswego Police Equipped To Deal With Mental Health Crisis

OSWEGO, IL — The incessant news updates regarding death and deprivation during the coronavirus can cause serious psychological trauma, but the Village is prepared to deal with this onslaught with its Crisis Intervention Team.

Implemented by the Oswego Police Department last May, the CIT is an innovative first-responder model of police-based crisis intervention training to help persons with mental disorders and/or addictions access medical treatment. It also promotes officer safety, safety of the individual in crisis and safety of the community in general.

"Our department had experienced several dangerous incidents where a person in crisis was the driving factor. The CIT can divert them from the criminal justice system when appropriate," said Bradford A. Delphey, deputy chief of support services at the department. "The program’s development came from a collective of interested persons in our department."

The department has taken steps to fulfill the One Mind Pledge established by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The program provides a framework for Police Departments to start a CIT program. The initiative also focuses on uniting local communities, public safety organizations, and mental health organizations so that the three become “of one mind,” Delphey said. The program includes:

• Establishing a clearly defined and sustainable partnership with a community mental health organization
• Developing a model policy.
• Training all sworn officers in mental health awareness courses.
• Providing Crisis Intervention Team training to a portion of sworn officers.

There are currently 12 sworn officers in the unit who have attended a 40-hour Crisis Intervention Team class through the local training organization. The class provides officers with education about mental illness, along with skills and tools for effectively and safely interacting with someone who is experiencing a crisis.

"When we respond to a call where it is believed that mental illness is the driving factor in the incident, the CIT follows up with the individual," Delphey said. "During the follow up, CIT officers provide the person with an informational packet on resources available to them. If they need further assistance, we connect them to those resources."

The Oswego Police Department is fortunate to have a partnership with the Kendall County Health Department where "we expedite this connection," he said. Between the officer and the health department, support is arranged that can take many forms depending on the circumstances.

Delphey said this has continued during the COVID-19 outbreak as well.
"One of the byproducts we hope to achieve with this program is quality of life for persons living with mental illness," he said. "Stressors that we are all currently navigating can have an adverse effect on everyone’s mental health."

In May 2019, Oswego Police hosted a kickoff meeting with members of the mental health community, first responders, judicial system members and community members to learn about the program and to formalize a committee that meets quarterly.

Committee members included representatives from Community Unit School District 308, Rush Copley Hospital, AMITA Health Mercy Behavioral Health Services, Oswego Fire Protection District, National Alliance on Mental Illness of Kane-South, DeKalb, and Kendall Counties, Kendall County Health Department, KenCom Public Safety Dispatch, and the Kendall County State’s Attorney’s Office.

This committee will ensure that the community is aware of the program and will support those residents in need of mental health services. By summer 2020, Oswego Police aims to meet all the requirements of the One Mind Pledge.

More information about the CIT program can be requested at here.

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