CAHOOTS is a mobile crisis intervention service with two teams that are integrated into the City of Eugene’s Police Department system.^[]The language in this section is quoted directly from excerpts of the Eugene Police Department’s communications protocol for CAHOOTS; the protocol was provided to Vera researchers by Marie Longworth, communications supervisor, Eugene Police Department, in a May 4, 2020, email. The free, confidential response is available for a broad range of non-criminal events including;

• Persons who are intoxicated or under the influence of controlled substances
• Persons needing immediate care, custody or treatment of mental illness
• Persons in need of immediate shelter
• Requests for non-emergency medical evaluation and transports, including prescription drug refill transports.

CAHOOTS employees are not armed and do not perform any law enforcement duties. Any time a request for service involves a crime, a potentially hostile person, a potentially dangerous situation (to the subject or the public in general) or an emergency medical problem, the call will be referred to the Eugene Police Department or Fire/EMS for dispatch.

CAHOOTS calls are triaged based upon urgency, not simply by the length of time holding. Calls such as suicidal subjects or those posing a safety risk to the person involved (intoxicated subject at risk of falling into traffic) should be dispatched before non-urgent requests.