Police departments from Clarendon Hills, Hinsdale, Burr Ridge and Willowbrook have formed a team that will enable them to provide additional services by sharing a social worker from Northeast DuPage Family and Youth Services.
The Hinsdale, Burr Ridge and Willowbrook departments put the Police Social Work Program in place for fiscal year 2025, said Clarendon Hills police Chief Ed Leinweber. He said he and acting village manager Paul Dalen were approached in September by Hinsdale police Chief Brian King about getting involved in the program.
The cost now is just over $23,000 for a year for each of the four departments. Clarendon Hills becomes part of the local group Jan. 1.
Leinweber said each department will have the social worker in-house one day per week for 10 hours.
“The social worker also has the flexibility to respond to one of the other towns, should there be an active critical incident where their services could be utilized,” he said, adding that the social worker would provided services to children, adolescents, adults and families of all backgrounds.
Leinweber said the social worker would focus on mental health incident follow-up, on-site response to mental health incidents, case management, short-term counseling to achieve crisis stabilization, suicide & mental health assessments, assistance with DCFS calls, homelessness, food insecurity and other basic needs, 24/7 on-call coverage for social service emergencies, ”walk-in” services for residents during designated office hours, domestic violence counseling, safety planning and resource assistance, outreach and training for residents and village officials and community meetings and events.
“Many police departments are moving toward having a social worker on staff, either on a part-time or full-time capacity,” Leinweber said. “There has been a lot of interest nationwide to have social workers work with police departments in responding to calls involving mental health crisis and domestic violence. Mental health crisis and domestic violence calls are two of the more common calls for service received by police departments.”
Leinweber said police and village officials believe partnering with Northeast DuPage Family and Youth Services will further strengthen the commitment to promoting the mental health and social needs of the Clarendon Hills community.
“We look forward to working with NEDFYS and our neighboring villages in an effort to provide the best police service possible,” he said.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
