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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Lieutenant Andrew Wolcott #976 - Aurora Police Department
DATE: January 2nd, 2024
SUBJECT:
Resolution authorizing the execution of a service agreement between the City of Aurora, and Family Services Association of Elgin Illinois in support of the Aurora Police Department Crisis Intervention Unit for the period of January of 2024 through June of 2025.
PURPOSE:
To obtain the City Council's approval of a proposed resolution that would authorize the Director of Purchasing to enter into a service agreement with the Family Services Association of Elgin (FSA) for contracted social worker services needed as part of the Aurora Police Department Crisis Intervention Unit.
BACKGROUND:
The Aurora Police Department understands that many police interactions with citizens in crisis include a substantial mental health component which must be addressed for the safety of the police officer and the citizen. The Aurora Police Department also knows that incidents often occur where a citizen in crisis may display behaviors otherwise considered criminal in nature, but for which an enforcement intervention is not the proper strategy. For these and other reasons, the Aurora Police Department endeavored to adopt a police/social worker co-response model wherein highly trained police officers are paired with highly trained mental healthcare providers to provide crisis intervention in a safe and meaningful way.
The Aurora Police Department has been working in partnership with the FSA for several years, and has constructed a Crisis Intervention Unit which focuses on in-progress and post-incident care for the citizens of Aurora who find themselves in a mental health crisis and also often interact with police. This model provides safety for the citizen, the social worker, and the officer, while utilizing approaches to mental health interventions aimed at the care of the citizen-patient versus traditional police enforcement tactics.
An agreement was...
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