Bartlett police add mental-illness response team

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Updated: September 29, 2011 12:44AM

BARTLETT — The Bartlett Police Department has become one of only a handful of area departments to have a Crisis Intervention Team, or CIT.

It is composed of five law enforcement officers who received intensive specialized training on dealing with people who have a mental illness or other behavioral disabilities.

And a new 911 emergency-phone service called Smart911 allows residents to alert police officers and firefighters about any special situations the emergency responders might come across if called to their home.

Police spokesman Sgt. Geoffrey Pretkelis said community members can identify CIT officers by a standardized CIT pin that will be worn on the officers’ uniforms. Their training at a law enforcement academy in Urbana consisted of a 40-hour block of instruction that included recognizing mental illnesses, substance abuse and dual diagnosis, child and adolescent disorders, psychotropic medications, geriatric issues, autism, law enforcement compliant surrender, excited delirium, risk assessment, and crisis intervention skills.

Pretkelis said the Crisis Intervention Team will network with the area’s mental health agencies to provide appropriate care and resources to individuals and their families. CIT officers will respond immediately and provide those in need of services with care. CIT officers are better trained and educated in de-escalation techniques.

By using these specially trained officers, he said, the number of repeat calls about each mentally ill person is expected to be reduced. Department officials also expect the CIT training to decrease injuries to police officers, decrease arrest rates for the mentally ill, and reduce the number of times when force must be used with such people.

Pretkelis said families or individuals who know a mentally ill person, an elderly person suffering from dementia, anyone taking psychotropic medications, etc., can register with the new Smart911 technology service to provide emergency personnel with information about that person as soon as 911 is called.

The Smart911 service was added recently by DuComm, the emergency call center that serves Bartlett and other DuPage County communities. Pretkelis said the police department and Bartlett Fire Protection District encourage all residents to register for the Smart911.

Residents can register their home and cellphone numbers for free at www.Smart911.com to provide emergency personnel with information about medical conditions and other special needs of people living at that house, the status of pets, specific information about the home itself, their language preferences, and photographs of themselves or their children. Pretkelis said those facts will be made available to responders when an emergency call is placed to 911 from the registered phone number.

Smart911 also will allow the dispatchers to track the location of a cellphone call through global positioning technology in case the call is dropped or if an individual uses a cellphone instead of a landline telephone at a residence.

Pretkelis said the information provided to Smart911 is encrypted and secure, and will never be sold or used for any purposes other than public safety. Only the Bartlett Police Department and Bartlett Fire Protection District will be able to access the information once the dispatchers relay it to the emergency personnel in the field.