In Sun Prairie, dispatchers are sending mental health specialists instead of police to some emergency calls

For the past three-and-a-half years, the city of Madison has been sending mental health specialists instead of police to some emergency calls.

Now, that alternative crisis response program is expanding to neighboring Sun Prairie.

Madison launched its Community Alternative Response Emergency Services program, or CARES, in 2021. Each CARES team includes a paramedic from Madison’s Fire Department and one crisis worker from the Journey Mental Health Center. CARES workers don’t carry guns and they don’t wear police uniforms.

The goal is to use CARES in non-violent situations when armed law enforcement officers are not necessary, said Jason King, Sun Prairie’s communications and diversity strategist. That includes welfare checks and incidents where someone’s at risk of suicide.

“This creates a diversion from emergency rooms and jails, where we’ve seen individuals who will live with a mental health issues end up,” King said.

There isn’t a dedicated number for members of the public to request a CARES team. Instead, after someone calls 911 from Madison or Sun Prairie, a dispatcher decides whether sending a CARES team is appropriate.

“This doesn’t eliminate law enforcement, but it serves as a complement to it,” King said.

Currently, CARES workers are only available from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on weekends. But city of Madison officials have said they hope to eventually make CARES available 24/7.

CARES started responding to calls in Sun Prairie on Monday, and will be available in that suburb to the northeast of Madison over the course of a year-long pilot program.

That’s after Sun Prairie won a $200,000 grant from Dane County, designed to bring CARES to another Madison-area community.

During the pilot, Madison will bill Sun Prairie $531 for each CARES call response within that city. The grant from Dane County will cover 70 percent of the cost of each call, with the rest funded by Sun Prairie.

Based on previous calls-for-service data, Sun Prairie officials anticipate getting at least 120 calls that would qualify for CARES over the course of a year.

“This expansion allows community members to receive real-time support from trained mental health professionals, providing a more tailored alternative to traditional emergency services,” Sun Prairie Mayor Paul Esser said in a statement.