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.