• Crisis Counselors provide 24/7 onsite emergency response with officers to people in crisis situations.

• The Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement (CARE) Team is a 2-year pilot program serving the Town of Chapel Hill. It’s a partnership between the Chapel Hill Police Department and Orange County.

• The CARE Team consists of a three-person, mobile team (Crisis Counselor, Peer Support Specialist, and Community EMT) and a Crisis Counselor embedded in the 911 Call Center. Diversion Social Worker.

• The CARE Team provides remote or on-scene response and incident follow-up to behavioral & mental health, substance use, and intellectual developmental disability related calls that are non-emergent and do not require a law enforcement response. 

• The Transit Crisis Counselor is a collaboration between Chapel Hill Transit and the Chapel Hill Police Crisis Unit.

• The role of the Transit Crisis Counselor is to support transit operators and customers by responding to crisis events that arise in transit spaces. Through outreach, the Transit Crisis Counselor also builds relationships with community members who may need assistance.

• The Orange County Community Care and Diversion Response (CCDR) Team is a collaborative, pre-arrest, and post-charge diversionary program for individuals with a history of serious mental illness.

• The Diversion Social Worker works to divert individuals in need of mental health interventions and treatment away from law enforcement and the criminal legal system.

• This program is a collaboration with the Orange County Criminal Justice Resource Department

• The Crisis Unit runs the Criminal Justice Debt Program. This program helps low-income community members in Orange County who have court debt. Relief is considered for post-conviction court fees and costs, deferred prosecution court fees and costs, and license restoration fees. Fines and restitution payments imposed as part of sentencing aren’t eligible for the fund. Program applications are available online: https://form.jotform.com/201253950662048.

**Paper applications are also available in English, Spanish, Mandarin, Burmese and Karen.

• The Crisis Unit Supervisor serves as the Coordinator for the Department’s Crisis Negotiation Team. This team is deployed during critical incidents that require specific engagement with suicidal persons, barricaded subjects, and hostage situations. Crisis Counselors as well as law enforcement officers receive specific negotiations training in order to be active members of this team.

• The Crisis Unit provides information and education to community groups both locally and nationally. The Crisis Unit also provides training to local government, human service, and law enforcement professionals in critical incident response, crisis stabilization, and lethality assessment.

• The Crisis Unit is also available to provide consultation on cases, particularly those that involve or could involve law enforcement. Community partners often consult with the Crisis Unit on cases involving child abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, stalking, harassment, or potential for lethality.

• The department’s Wellness Coordinator is responsible for developing, implementing, and overseeing wellness programs and initiatives to enhance the overall health, mental resilience, and job satisfaction of police officers, support staff, and their families.

• This role focuses on promoting physical fitness, mental health, stress management, suicide prevention, and other wellbeing aspects.

• The program is being designed to offer holistic services spanning from hiring to retiring, customized to Chapel Hill Police Department employees and their families' unique needs.