The “CAHOOTS” unit, funded through the Eugene, Oregon, police department, has been able to help people having mental health crises. Photo by JOHN T HANKEMEIER
SOUTH BEND — As the group Faith in Indiana St. Joseph County pushes for a mobile response unit to give South Bend area police forces an alternative to jailing those with mental illness and substance abuse problems, both activists and officials cite Eugene, Oregon as a community that's getting it right.
The city that's home to the University of Oregon implemented the "Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets" (CAHOOTS) program in 1989. Officials there say it's been effective for diverting people needing mental health, substance abuse and other services away from jail, Lt. Ron Tinseth, director of the program, said by phone last week.
An analysis of the CAHOOTS program from 2019 shows 5% to 8% of calls for service that would have been handled by the Eugene Police Department were diverted to the mobile response team.
Similarly, an analysis of the city of Indianapolis's "Mobile Crisis Assistance Team" that was conducted in 2017 when it was a pilot program operating in a neighborhood that had a high number of mental health crisis-related 911 calls, showed that program was effective at keeping those dealing with mental health or substance abuse crises out of jail.
The study, conducted by the Indiana University Public Policy Institute's Center for Criminal Justice Research, showed that MCAT personnel took fewer than 2% of the people they interacted with to jail.
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