The mental health crisis that faces police every day.

Local officers speak out.

And diversity, equity and inclusion under a different name in The Cities.

[lively music] [music ends] When is DEI not DEI?

One school in the citie is looking at diversity, equity, inclusion in a different way.

But first, the front lines of mental health.

All too often, those who fall through the cracks and end up facing law enforcement.

In the cities police agencies say the increase in mental health calls is creating a greater risk for police and society, not to mention thos who are suffering the illness.

Bettendorf Police Chief Doug Scott is part of a coalition of law enforcement agencie seeking change, and he joined us to talk about the need and the possible solutions.

You really want state help for, and I got, I want to get this right, short term mental health support is what it's called.

We're talking about people that literally are falling through the cracks, that they may not they may take, themselves off their medicines and they become, as you're pointing, not only a threat to themselves, but also to officers and to society as well.

What made you say that we really need to address this at the state level to give local, law enforcement some help?

Well, as you mentioned, with local law enforcement, we arent the mental health care workers.

We're not trained in that space.

So we are seeing... You're becoming more trained.

...we are spending a lot more time in that space.

So we're seeing a kind of cycle that occurs where, people who are mentally ill and are struggling aren't getting the longer term care that they need.

And it's causing, no real place for us, as first responders and law enforcement, to be able to get them the help and that sustainment.

They either go to the emergency room or they end up going to the jail.

And neither one of those is really where they need the assistance from, in my opinion.

I think that they need, some intervention, some management to help get them leveled out so that they can participate again, back at the level that tha that is best for all of society.

You have been in contact with state lawmakers.

I mean, are yo hopeful something can be done?

There is no real easy solution.

And mental health issues have been, at the forefront of the Iowa legislature over the past few years, whether it's the clos or closing of state institutions or the reallocations of how counties deal with it.

But on the ground, you're seeing it firsthand.

What is going on right now in Iowa is not working?

Yeah, I think we have a lot of room to improve.

I think there's been last last year, I believe the legislators started some reallocation of the way funds were moving for health care throughout the state.

And so, you know, we're in our first year, we have to understand it's going to take a little bit of time.

It was a transition.

You know, we had, you know, a decade ago, we had some closing of some longer term institutions that were helpful for people to get stabilized and those no longer exist.

And more and more of that burden is falling on your polic your fire, your emergency room staff, your jails and thing like that to solve this problem.

This challenge that all of us are facing in one way or another.

And, yeah, I'm looking to try to bring some awareness and see if we can find some solutions to help out.

Bring some awareness with an incredible statistic.

$7 million in five years on just 17 individuals, is i what was being cited, basically $84,234 per person.

That shows, because we're talking about 17 individuals, that its, that its a small group of people in this particular instance, but it is a huge amount of money.

That is true.

We have we we call that like a high utilizer.

So we understand that we have some high utilizers of, of that come through the system and they keep gettin recycled back through the system because they're not able to get the help they need to break out of that.

And what brings them into the system in the first place is, is like a disturbance in a house?

Is it is I mean... One multitude of ways.

...yeah.

It's, you know, it can be a disturbance.

It can be family member calling in a domestic situation.

It can be somebody inside a store that, maybe they steal something, don't even really realize they're stealing it.

They're putting it in a pocket and leaving because of whatever's going on in their sense of of reality.

It can be, you know, some of this has other dependency issues, whether it's drug or alcohol, that gets involved in this as well to help them feel like they're medicating through their, their challenges.

It can be just a lot of different ways.

It can be a disturbance in an emergency room where they sought care.

But because the emergency room wasn't able to handle it, they need them to be removed.

And then they're back on the into the police department because maybe they assaulted a nurse or a doctor, somebod that was supposed to help them.

And now we're back.

Now we're back into the jail faction of this, and then that will end up moving them back out onto the street with them will lead to, them having another encounter with first responders in some capacity will land them back in the emergency room or back into the jail or something like that.

So that cycle it just keeps going and going.

And we've seen, Davenport saw an almost 300, now this is a huge number, Davenport police seein almost a 300% increase in mental health calls from 2020 to 2024.

Have you seen a similar increase in mental health calls?

We are seeing a larger amount of calls.

I wouldn't say we've seen it to their level.

I'm not I'm not quite sure how, we haven't gotten into the data that deep, so I don't really want to speak to it too much.

But we definitely there's a lot more of interaction, it seems like, on a daily basis where it's a nonviolent, non-criminal, disturbance that's created where law enforcement's trying to find a solution, whether it's, a homelessness situatio or we can't seem to find them, the support that they need because it's non voluntary.

We have a lot of voluntary services in the Quad Cities.

But if you're of the frame of mind that you're not looking for voluntary services and you're not able to get yourself the transportation or to get the medication that you need and sustain that medication and that treatment plan, then we're continuing to kick the can down the road.

Well, theres people are going to just say, well, just put them away, you know, just get them out of society.

And as you were pointing out, is that I mean, as far as commitment operation go, people have a lot of rights.

I mean if you don't want to get menta health services in some cases, if not many cases, you don't have to have it.

So it does becomes this cycle for you.

And and as you were saying, earlier, you alluded to the fact that this has a high cost, not only monetarily but also a bit of a threat, let's say, to police, to families and perhaps to society itself.

Yeah.

I mean, any time you're dealing with an unknown situation or people of an irrational mind, there's always going to be an escalation that that could go for the worst.

And that's, we want to avoid that significantly.

You know we we're not here to try to use any kind of force on someone because their, their mental faculties aren't based in the reality of what's occurring in front of them, you know?

So we want to try to fin those solutions on the front end so that we can de-escalate those situations, avoid that crisis, help them be able to live, you know, a life, avoidin law enforcement in a negative, in negative sense.

Let's move on from there, because, interactions between police and and society, I mean, we're seeing, police stuck in the middle of, ICE investigations where you have people that are protesting or people that are are trying to document these incidents.

And, and it you struck me when you when you mentioned and the real word is de-escalation.

How much trainin is going into that these days?

Because it seems like police have got to be able to be masters of de-escalation more now than before.

Police have to be the masters of a lot of things.

Or, or at least that's the expectation today.

Right?

We're talking about mental health response on one.

Now we're talking about de-escalation of of maybe arrests or things in the community that may be going on that somebody doesn't care about.

You know, it's also the people who are responding, you know, into your schools to help out or their homes to deal with children and then we have the family dynamics and domestic situations.

And then, so were... Which is among the most dangerous for police to get involved in.

They very much are.

So there's there' there's definitely a lot there.

And from just an overall safety standpoint, you know, it's, it's imperative for everybody to try to be the best you can be with the tool that you were given or provided.

So we spend time on training annually.

We talk about it internally.

You know, in de-escalation can look like a lot of different things.

De-escalation, maybe a tone of voice.

It may also be just distance or when we even approach something, maybe we don't approach it right away, you know.

And that may that may cause people to question.

Well, the police need t get in there and deal with that.

Well, maybe sometimes the best is spac and time and a better assessment of what actually is the issue if someone's life is not in danger.

Right?

So, you know, it's a, it's a frequent conversation.

It's trying to figure out what tools you have at your disposal, trying to navigate through the unknown and, and trying to, trying to make the best outcomes possible, whenever we can.

Over the last year I believe you had two officers that were injured responding to a domestic, incident involving I believe a knife was back then.

The danger is out there.

Yes.

They, they were both shot.

I'm sorry.

Thank you.

Yeah, and it was a domestic between, a male and a female in a basement of a residence and also involved in a knife as well as firearms.

And then, when the officers engaged, they.

Yes, they were shot.

The officers are doing well now?

They are.

They're back.

They're back on the street.

You know, they needed, heal u and take a little bit of time, but, I couldn't be more impressed with their resiliency and their, their, ability to navigate that traumatic experience and then come back not only, with that and share their experience, but also help make the department stronger and their, their, their day to da job of coming in and going back and dealing with similar calls is is just outstanding to me.

I want to talk a little bit about when you talk about some of the, calls that are coming in, for a while, the real big problem was, of course, people stealing cars, generally juveniles stealing cars.

And and I know that you've also had to deal with a lot of of vandalism and car break-Ins these days.

Is this cyclical?

Is this like, a, rides a wave?

I mean are you still having these same problem and tends to be the same people?

I do think it's somewhat cyclical.

I think, you know, we were in COVID, we had, a lot of a lot of issues going on politically across the country.

We saw a huge uptick in juvenile crime, and juveniles were running all through the Quad Cities.

Even though we have a lot o cities here were one community.

The bridges really don't stop anybody from traversing wherever they want to go and doing what it is they want to do in those locations.

So this was really impacting all of us.

You know, a car would get stolen in Davenport, and then it would b used in a crime in Rock Island, and it would be used in a crime or to steal another car and, and in Bettendorf and we were just kind of moving it around.

So with the use of, you know, partnerships, through all of us, family resources, violence initiatives in the schools.

Utilizing license plate reader technology, cameras, we were able to really start to hold people accountable, make cases on that and then eventually, has slowed itself down.

And I think a lot of it has been through those processes and then back through into either juvenile court or adjudication to adult court.

And then, people have decided it's not worth their time anymore to keep doing those crimes.

I guess there was concern that you're that, I shouldn't paint a picture this broad, that a lot of it was these kids, and then the kids would get a slap on the wrist and then they were back out doing this, and it had to be frustrating for a police officer.

But it just seemed to have been, I guess it was somewhat COVID related.

It just seemed to be a big issue for about a year and a half to two years.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

I mean, it was a big spike into that 2021 time frame.

And then it's just been slow.

We've been able to keep workin it, working it, working it down to the levels that we're seeing today.

And you know, I think we're you know, well in well over 50% reductions in both theft from vehicles as well as stolen vehicles.

You recently brought back, looking for more tips for the David McAllister case, missing since the 2017.

You've got cold cases.

And because of TV shows that really sparks the public's interest.

How do you how do you continue an investigation whe the leads are kind of drying up?

Well it gets to be a real challenge.

And some of the, you know, the the biggest way really is keep reaching back out to the public... Right.

...to keep trying to reach somebody that knows something that hasn't come forward yet.

You know, we try to take advantage of opportunities that come along of maybe we knew somebod who knew him at that time and, and, circle and back around with them and trying to get them to come forward with maybe more information or things that they could point us in another direction or give us another lead.

You know, we've worked very, hand-in-hand with the family, tried to assis with anything that we can from, bringing dogs out and doing field searches to excavating basements to, you name it.

We've tried to do it.

It just it's there's reall a gap of where he was last seen and then what happens nex and who he was with at the time.

And we have not been able to fill that fill that in.

So we want to continue to bring awareness.

We want to continue to encourage anybody who knows something, even if they just hear something to bring it forward.

You know, we really we hope that, he's still alive and well and he's just chose not to reach out to his family, but his family is definitely suffering.

And, and and they're very concerned about, you know, what this could be?

It's been coming up on a year or ten years.

And so, you know, we would like to we would like to be able t get down to the bottom of this.

Well, and it kind of underlines the fact that this case doesn't close.

Correct.

Yeah.

And you look also, I mean across the river to Trudy Appleby, which of course is the disappearance that was back in 1996.

And a lot of times police d have a lot of the information.

You just need the right information in order to create a prosecution.

If, I'm not saying David McCallister is necessarily a crime in any way but but but cases such as that, you're still working them.

You may have far more knowledge than the public has.

You're just looking for those extra keys that allow you to prosecute.

Yeah.

I mean, anything that comes in is going to be an investigative opportunity, and then you're going to use that to direct you where you can, you know, we have, you know, we have quite a few systems out there across the country from DNA analysis, you know, to jus just record sharing and things.

So it's if, you know, if we can come across something that can then lead us to something else, just like you said, with a Trudy Appleby, all of a sudden, you can figure out, okay, what what did this look like... Right.

...and what opportunities do we have, to to solve this.

Last piece of the puzzle.

Almost a year as chief.

How's it been going?

And and what initiatives ar you hoping for this coming year?

Yeah.

No, it's, it's been fast.

It's been quick and furious.

There's been, ups and downs, as you can imagine.

It's, you know, we're, we've definitely hit the ground running.

You know, we're looking, we're looking forward to the new police department build.

We're looking fall of ‘27, should be move in ready.

So we're excited about that.

We're kind o in a planning phase right now, making sure the offices and the layout and everything are accounted for and that it's going to work well for all the, all the officers and all the employees of the department.

We're working through, an accreditation process right now.

Itll be the first time the department's having accreditation through the Iowa law enforcement accreditation program.

So, we're hoping to have that wrapped up before, before, the end of the spring.

You know, we're, always recruiting.

We're always trying to hire.

So if you know anybody, send them our way.

It's, it's a lengthy process.

From the time you put your application in to the da you get hired, and the 16 weeks at the academy, in the 14 plus weeks of field training on the streets with a partner, mentoring you along the way, and then finall getting out there on your own.

So it's about a year process.

So we're always, always trying to find ways to reach people who can, serve their community and be part of the team.

You know, there's, never a shortage of work, that's for sure.

There's always something that can be done.

Our thanks to Bettendorf Police Chief Doug Scott.

Spring has sprung and not a moment too soon, right?

We know there's cold weather to come, but there's also light at the end of the tunnel at this point.

And we also know there's some great events and programs you may want to put on your calendar right now.

So here's Visit Quad Cities.

Check out the things to do this week in the Quad Cities.

Explore downtown Moline and hunt for eggs hidden at participating businesses.

Snap a photo and submit it for a chance to win prizes.

Next, enjoy a musical celebration of female country music stars.

Check out Honky Tonk Angels at Circa 21 Dinner Playhouse.

Then everyone say you can experience an open mic night.

Show off your comedy, music, poetry, interpretive dance.

The list goes on.

Next, Daniel Tosh, comedian, host, writer and producer will be taking the Adler stage.

Finally, experience.

Caged Aggression: March to Glory.

This is a premier MMA experience right in the QC.

For more events like these, check out our events calendar at VisitQuadCities.com.

DEI program are being dismantled nationwide.

Iowa has aggressively removed diversity, equity and inclusion program at its three state universities.

But Augustana College is bucking the trend.

Its DEI coordinator is now the vice president of culture and connectivity.

Now, is that just a name change or is it something more?

We talked about DEI initiatives with Augustana's Doctor Gouri Patale.

So diversity equity and inclusion seems like something that we all want to reach.

But DEI now has gotte very dirty, a dirty reputation.

That's got to be frustrating for a person like you.

Well, I think that, there's a misconception that diversity, equity and inclusion work, is for specific people.

And I would like to clarif that the work that I've always done has been focused on studen success and student belonging.

And it doesn't matter what background the student comes from, what we care about is that they feel like they are a part of our institution, and that they can thrive and they can succeed.

A lot of the work that I do, primarily now as the Vice President for Culture and Connection, is to ensure that our student are academically, socially ready to be able to do collaborativ work across differences, across identity, lived experience, even perspective differences, so that they are able to have a beautiful collaboration an lead teams and lift up people.

So I think that it is a misconception that the work is for a specific population.

It never was and it never has been.

But our evolution at Augustana College, the culture and connection, really allows us to thread this into the fabric of the institution in a meaningful way.

When our office began as the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, it was at a specific point of time in our institutional history.

Subsequently, our student population has evolved, our campus community has evolved, and we have recognized that this work needs to be something that we threa through the institution and work that allows everyone to be able to engage with the great diversit that we have on our own campus, so that they can engage with it, they can learn from it, and they can continue to uplift all of their communities in a meaningful way.

You are, of course, at Augustana in Illinois, and Augustana, this has been a part of Augustana since the day it was founded.

It's always been a part of mission.

I kno that's something that the school and you in particular are proud of, of course.

Yes.

But you see, across the rive in Iowa, where DEI or diversity, equity and inclusion programs are seriously under attack, particularly in the public school system.

Does that give you pause?

I mean, does it does that I don't know.

How does that impact yo as a person who is in Illinois and at Augustana looking at what's going on just across the river?

You know, it's very hard.

Every institution makes the decisions that they feel are right for them.

And it's very, it's not on us or me to be able to see what direction they should go into.

For us at Augustana, this was a really great time for us to look at our structures, to look at our systems, and to also go back to our mission, our Lutheran values of grace, dignity and loving, my, loving our neighbors, that those values continue to always undergird all of the work that we're doing.

So with the launch of the Office of Vice President for Culture and Connection, we really aligned with that missional work, and we ensure tha we can make good on our promise to graduate students who can be leaders in a global and an interconnected world.

Critics, as you know, say that it's indoctrination.

You would say.

I'll let you say it.

[laughs] I want to be clear in saying that we never tell students or anyone in our community what to think.

All we do is provide them wit the skills of critical thinking, and we teach them how to think, not what to think.

And that, I think, is ke to understand about any higher education institution.

Our job is to provide our students with the skills to be able to think critically.

What answers they reach is all up to them.

We merely give them the tools to do that.

So that is my perspective of how academia and the work that we do allows our institution, allows our students at our institutions to flouris and to be able to go out there.

Because when you think about it, when you tell someone what to think, they are lost when they don't know what the answer is and they need to come back to you.

We want our students to graduate and continue to thrive.

For that, they need the skills to know how to think.

So when they graduate and when they come across any kind of situation that is confusing, scary even completely lost at times, they have the skills tha they can rely on to think about how can I think about this in a way that allows me to get multiple perspectives and find my answer?

And I wonder, because I think of my experience and as a white male, much different than, than a minority student.

And I would think DEI, and particularly the college classroom for me, is it taught you that there are different cultures, and it actually taught me a little more empathy.

Is that a key is for, for like the white male or the white female, just to better understand the world around them and to better understand other people and their backgrounds.

I think we live in a very global and a very interconnected world today.

And there's a beautiful term by a writer called Michelle MiJung King.

I love that term.

It's called Oppression Olympics.

And we are not here to tell anyone what their experience is.

People always have hardships in their lives.

People always work hard and whatever results they get, they have put energy and time into.

Our job is not to tell them that you are an X person and therefore this is your experience.

It's so antithetical to how we teach in Augustana Colleg and higher education in general.

So our hopes are that people will get exposed to peopl who are from different cultures, and that we can help them understand that everybody's a huma and everybody deserves dignity.

And I think that when peopl deeply disagree with each other more often than not, we tend to just shy away from that difference.

We teach students how to engage with that difference, how to understand tha the opinion is not the person, how to be able to see the humanity of the person, and to be able to then tal about, hey, we disagree on this.

Let's talk a little more about why and how we came to this opinion separately, and also not to shift or change anyone's perspective, but to hold that difference, to sit in that difference and disagreement and to still respect each other.

It's important in the colleg culture to be able to do that.

What do you think your role i in the greater community then?

Because Augustana, of course, tries to lead by example.

Yes, absolutely.

We believe it's really important for us to be able to empower and to also be able to affect the community around us in a positive way.

Now, think about students who graduate and employees from our institution who engage and live in and around Quad Cities.

When you have those skills, you're going to model them.

That doesn't mean the person in front of you may know how to be able to do that, but it's a great way to lead by example as you said, rightly so.

Right?

Our students, when they graduate and when they join and become part of the larger broad Quad Cities community, are able to have those skills that they are able to share, which only serves our community better.

Doctor Gouri Petale the Vice President for Culture and Connectivity at Augustana College.

250 years ago, it took a spark to create a nation.

As America marks 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we look at what spark peopl in the cities have that's helped make our area a better place to live.

And we asked Mercer County farmer Jeff Kirwan about his civic spark and what led him to be a district director for the Illinois Farm Bureau Board.

Farming was something that was instilled as a young child.

I grew up and that's all I wanted to do was farm.

I can remember my mom telling, you know, every time I wanted to come back to the farm, she'd be like, no, you've got to go get an education.

But it was always in my heart, and I think agriculture has that little spark about coming back to the farm or tending the land And I think that's what makes us unique and special.

I'm taking care of the land like my grandfather took care of the land.

It's a legacy and I think that's a huge driver for American agriculture i the legacy that we both create and that we're leaving behind for our next generation.

Our thanks to Illinois Farm Bureau District Director Jeff Kirwan.

On the air, on the radio, on the web, on your mobile devic and streaming on your computer.

Thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues on The Cities.

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