Over 50 years ago, Chapel Hill became one of the first cities in the country to send clinicians along with police officers to respond to people experiencing a mental health–related crisis.
In May 2024, the city expanded this approach, launching a pilot program that dispatches mental health specialists to respond to incidents without police. The team also includes a peer support specialist—someone with their own lived experience with mental health struggles to respond to calls.
During its first year, the Crisis Assistance, Response, and Engagement team—or CARE—has had great success, responding to almost 1,300 events and significantly reducing the number of arrests and forced hospitalizations that would have occurred with traditional police response, according to the Chapel Hill Police Department, which oversees the program…