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Evanston police recognized for crisis-intervention training, partnership with alternative-response team
Summary
The Evanston Police Department was named the 2025 Illinois Crisis Intervention Team Department of the Year in an announcement describing the department’s CIT training for officers and its partnership with the city’s alternative-response Evanston Care Program.
Evanston — The Evanston Police Department was named the 2025 Illinois Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Department of the Year, an announcement at a city meeting said. The presentation described the department’s emphasis on CIT training and its partnership with the city’s alternative-response Evanston Care Program.
Department officials said the agency has prioritized CIT training, and that a majority of its 144 sworn officers have completed the certified 40-hour Illinois Crisis Intervention Team training. The announcement said officers regularly use CIT training in the field, applying deescalation techniques and crisis-intervention strategies to reduce the need for force or emergency hospitalization and to improve outcomes for people in distress.
The presentation described the Evanston Care Program as an independent city-operated alternative response that can provide non-police responses to certain low-risk calls, including well-being checks, mental-health concerns and nuisance complaints. According to the announcement, that arrangement allows officers to focus on criminal activity while care-team members respond to appropriate low-risk service calls.
Care-program staff, the announcement said, complete emergency-crisis-responder training through Oakton College covering crisis intervention, mental-health awareness, restorative justice and community-resource navigation. Evanston Police and Fire departments provide additional field training during the program’s first year, including Narcan administration, CPR and real-world crisis-response scenarios.
The department told the meeting that by integrating CIT training into daily operations and collaborating with the care team and other departments, it aims to provide ongoing support and tailored resources for people facing mental-health challenges or behavioral disabilities. The announcement highlighted deescalation, proactive engagement and collaboration as central to the department’s approach and cited those efforts in presenting the Illinois CIT award.
The announcement did not include any motions, votes or policy changes; it was presented as an award recognition and summary of existing training and partnership activities.
