Emergency Communications Center

An ARC (Alternative Response to Crisis) response team is a 911-dispatchable resource for low-risk crisis situations.

ARC has been established to function as a 911-dispatchable resource for low-risk crisis situations. This is a collaborative effort between the Cincinnati Emergency Communications Center (ECC), Cincinnati Fire Department (CFD), and Cincinnati Health Department (CHD). Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services provides contracted staffing and support on behalf of CHD.

A two-person ARC team consists of at least one licensed behavioral health specialist; this person is paired with a paramedic, or another behavioral health specialist.

Initially, the program was funded to provide one team, with 40 hours of service per week, from 8AM to 5PM, Monday through Friday. The steering committee used data gathered during the pilot to inform decisions about operational hours and for consideration of any future extension or expansion of the program.

In June 2024, the program expanded to two ARC response teams. Data had showed that earlier and later service would be helpful. The hours of the two teams are now:

• Monday through Friday, 7AM to 3PM
• Monday through Friday, 11am to 7PM

The team responds to low-risk calls where individuals are not in imminent risk. The team deals with low level behavioral health crises and issues that arise from public health needs and poverty. Some examples are: trespass calls, welfare checks, intoxicated parties, and mental health crises.

ARC Response Teams provide crisis de-escalation, connection, and system navigation. The greater Cincinnati area has a deep pool of service providers and organizations well suited to help people. Sometimes, a barrier to help is simply not knowing who can help. A primary goal of ARC is to connect people to services that can help address their needs.

The ARC Response Team is dispatched through 911 (the Cincinnati Emergency Communications Center or ECC).

ECC 911 and 311 call-takers evaluate calls received using a protocol system, which directs appropriate incidents to ARC based on the specifics of each incident and associated safety considerations. 

When an ARC-eligible incident is routed to an ECC police dispatcher, the dispatcher will evaluate whether there is an ARC Response Team on duty. If yes, the call will be dispatched to the team. If the team is not on duty or would not be able to respond in a reasonable period of time, the traditional response will be dispatched instead.

ARC teams are connected to ECC dispatchers in the same way as the City's other public safety responders, with radio and data communication tools.

In addition to functioning as a 911-dispatchable resource, ARC teams roam their geographic service area to look for opportunities to self-initiate activity (e.g., checking on the welfare of people in public spaces, or following up with those they have encountered previously).

ARC response teams are a 911 dispatchable resource anywhere in the City of Cincinnati.

One goal of the ARC Response Team is to de-escalate situations, or avoid unnecessary escalation, by responding as an alternative to law enforcement. The non-threatening appearance of the team, in terms of their vehicle and team member attire, is one aspect of this approach. The vehicle used by the team is intentionally not marked in a fashion similar to CPD or CFD vehicles, and is not equipped with flashing red/blue lights or an audible emergency siren. The attire of team members will generally consist of professional but casual street attire. For identification, team members wear an ARC photo identification card on a lanyard.

In 2022, the ARC Response Team began as a pilot program with a single team, for the purposes of collecting data and learning while delivering this new service. The team provided 40 hours of service per week.

The pilot helped demonstrate that such a service is needed in Cincinnati beyond the initial pilot. In 2024, a second ARC team was added to expand the service hours. However, 24/7 service would require significantly more resources than are currently available.

No. The ARC Response Team provides a broad range of no-cost services such as providing information and referrals, crisis intervention, counseling, transportation to another service provider, and social service needs.

No, ARC Response Team members are not armed and do not perform any law enforcement duties. This program is an alternative response and will not be used as a substitute for situations which require a law enforcement presence and will not respond to incidents which involve violence or life-threatening medical situations.

No, the Mobile Crisis Team (MCT) is a service operated by UC Health on behalf of the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board. MCT often responds along with Cincinnati Police Department (CPD) officers in a co-responder capacity to high-risk crisis situations which require a law enforcement presence.

The ARC Response Team does not replace the CPD co-responder program or MCT, but rather is an additional resource to help address mental health, substance abuse issues, and the community’s low-risk crisis needs. The ARC Response Team pilot is being established to respond to calls that are not currently handled by the MCT/CPD co-responder program.

ARC and MCT are both part of a broader continuum of crisis services.

The ARC Response Team is managed as one initiative within the Alternative Response Program at the City of Cincinnati’s Emergency Communications Center, an agency of the City Manager’s Office.

ARC began as a collaboration between the City Manager’s Office, Emergency Communications Center (ECC), Fire Department (CFD), and Health Department (CHD). A pilot was developed in 2022 by a steering committee consisting of representatives of these four agencies, guided with input from a community stakeholder group.

ECC is the lead agency regarding call-taking and day-to-day ARC operations, while CHD is lead on clinical services provided by the team. The Alternative Response Program Manager, who oversees this and other initiatives, reports to the ECC Director.

As an initial pilot, the Health Department secured a grant to cover a portion of the pilot’s expenses.

Primarily, the City of Cincinnati is funding the initiative with general fund dollars.

ARC is viewed as a more efficient use of City resources. For example:

• Each ARC response saves police officer time that can be applied to more urgent law enforcement matters. 
• By connecting individuals to services and addressing root issues, there is understood to be a savings by reducing a need for future 911 emergency services.

No. The ARC Response Team is not a replacement for Emergency Medical Services (EMS). If Cincinnati 911 receives a report of a medical emergency, those incidents will continue to receive a traditional EMS response.

If a medical emergency is encountered by an ARC team, the team will request an EMS response from the Cincinnati Fire Department.

ARC team members are CPR/AED certified and trained to administer naloxone (Narcan). While EMS is on the way, ARC team members may provide immediate life-saving interventions, such as CPR, defibrillation with an AED, or resuscitation of an overdose victim using naloxone.

The ARC Response Team has been designed to provide an alternative to a law enforcement response for situations in which such an alternative is safe and more appropriate than traditional public safety responses. The Emergency Communications Center’s 911 call-takers and dispatchers are trained to interview callers, triage all calls received, and send the most appropriate available response. Callers need only to describe the situation and answer the call-takers questions; the decision to flag an incident as appropriate for alternative response is criteria-based, and a caller’s request for a particular type of response does not weigh in to sending what is most appropriate.