CINCINNATI — The City of Cincinnati launched a new dashboard for its Alternative Response to Crisis (ARC) team, making the data city departments collect about the pilot program available to the public.
Last month, the pilot program was extended from six months to a year.
Right now, the pilot is four months in and the dashboard shows the ARC team has responded to nearly 260 calls, saving police an estimated 268 hours.
The pilot program was created because police are often responding to 911 calls that fall outside the parameters of law enforcement.
"ARC is giving us an additional tool instead of police in those situations," Bill Vedra, the Director of the Emergency Communications Center said.
A behavioral health specialist and a paramedic from the Cincinnati Fire Department work as a team, responding to 911 calls that don't require a police officer. According to the dashboard, the top three call types the team has responded to include trespassing, mental health calls and a call to find someone.
While a trespassing call may sound like one for police, Vedra said the person trespassing is often someone experiencing homelessness. No matter who it is, trespassing is still a crime, so typically police respond.
"But at the end of the day, that isn't what the person experiencing homelessness needs," he said.
Now, ARC responds to these calls, checking on the individual and offering help.
"It could either be relinking an individual to services that may have lapsed and they haven't been in connection with for some time or if they find that they need new services, helping with those referral processes," said Dr. Maryse Amin, assistant health commissioner at the Cincinnati Health Department.
The two-person ARC team works 40 hours a week, Monday through Friday, but the 911 center flags calls that are eligible for the team 24/7. So far, there have been more than 2200 eligible calls.
The team has responded to calls across Cincinnati, but most calls have come from downtown and Over-the-Rhine.
The data is meant to help the city decide what the next steps should be once the pilot is over.
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