Park Ridge Wants Help For Mentally Ill

The Park Ridge Police Department is hoping to start a pilot program that would equip first responders in the community to respond to the mentally ill in the correct way, the Park Ridge Sun-Times is reporting. Calls are on the rise in the community and dealing with the mentally ill is a challenge for the police, so the department submitted a grant to help form a pilot program that would equip officers with the tools needed to respond.
The department is trying to work with a police department in Banning, Ca., the Center for Public Safety and Justice at the University of Illinois, and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge the program. The program would include crisis intervention training for Park Ridge police, firefighters and hospital workers, along with training that would focus the best way to respond to situations involving the mentally ill.