PEORIA, Ill. — Peoria’s new Police Chief Eric Echevarria has been on the job just five days. But, he’s already been out on the streets with his officers, seeing how they respond to calls involving gun violence.
Echevarria told WMBD’s “The Greg and Dan Show”, that he’d like to see a strong collaboration between the PPD and local mental health agencies.
“Our dispatch centers would love to see mental health workers triaging phone calls and making sure this call needs to go to police, or to mental health. Where does this call need to go?,” Echevarria said.
The police chief said the PPD will be meeting with other community agencies soon to create a better “team approach” for responding to emergency calls.
“We need to look at training for our police officers in dealing with autism, dealing with mental health, dealing with the homelessness and de-escalation. All of that stuff,” Echevarria said.
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