A new agreement between the Buffalo Grove and Mount Prospect police departments help give Buffalo Grove law enforcement access to a social worker when needed.
A memo of understanding between the two municipalities was approved by the Buffalo Grove Village Board Jan. 15, and according to Buffalo Grove police Chief Brian Budds, it allows for the department to reach out to Mount Prospect whenever the Buffalo Grove Police Department social worker is unavailable.
“In this particular case, we elected to partner with the Mount Prospect Police Department in the event our social service worker is on any kind of extended leave or absence. Mount Prospect’s police social worker would respond to any unplanned crisis within our jurisdiction,” Budds told Pioneer Press in an email after the agreement was approved. “This MOU allows for Buffalo Grove to place Mount Prospect on our general liability insurance providing the requisite liability protection for their clinicians that may respond to our municipality.”
Budds said the memo of understanding is not a new initiative but simply a formal agreement for shared social services between the two towns. There are no fees or costs paid by either agency for the support, he explained.
Currently, the Buffalo Grove Police Department has one, full-time social worker.
“Our social worker followed up on over 600 case reports in 2023 for individuals and/or families that request referrals or resources for continued support,” Budds said. “The social worker follows up on many different calls for service – common examples are family disputes and elderly service support calls.”
The Mount Prospect Police Department has two full-time social workers who are village employees, according to Mount Prospect police Chief Mike Eterno. Their work, he said, is supplemented by the village’s Human Services Department, which also has several social workers on staff.
“This MOU was put in place for the purpose of providing emergency assistance during the absence of their social worker or ours due to things like vacation or a brief leave,” said Julie Kane, Mount Prospect director of human services. “It is not an agreement to share an employee across two agencies for day-to-day operations.”
The memo of understanding states both villages “recognize the important role that trained social workers and mental health professionals can play in assisting police officers to work effectively with situations involving mental health issues … [and] recognize the importance of providing each other with back-up assistance during large-scale crisis situations that require more trained social workers and/or mental health professionals than either community has available.”
The MOU also states that requests for assistance must be made at least a week in advance and directly to the Mount Prospect human services director or the Buffalo Grove human resources manager, according to the memo. Support provided will be based on the situation, and could include telephone consultation, responding on scene, providing court advocacy and follow up social work services.
Budds said the duration of the support will vary by situation.
The MOU also states that there is no guarantee a trained social worker or mental health professional will provide support when requested if there are no trained and licensed social workers available at the time of the request.
The agreement will be effective for one year and will renew automatically for an additional year unless either municipality provides written notice, according to the MOU.
Elizabeth Owens-Schiele is a freelancer.