Question: The Alexandria Police Department’s ACORP teams have had a real impact in terms of connecting residents with needed mental health services instead of facing arrest. What would be the cost of funding another ACORP team? (Councilman McPike)

Response: 

To expand the Alexandria Co-Response Program (ACORP) by 40 additional hours per week, the following is required:

The estimated annual cost ($286,499) would be required for each additional 40 hours of weekly ACORP services. One ACORP team comprised of two staff (one police officer and one behavioral health therapist) costs approximately $286,499 annually. ACORP is currently composed of three teams. Should ACORP expand beyond six staff members, some administrative support will be needed to help manage day-to-day administrative demands. In addition, more ACORP units may require time for staff supervision that may need to be carved out of the current Therapist Supervisor’s time or infused into the program in some other way. It would be our recommendation to wait six months for more data before attempting to add staff to the ACORP program. The two additional ACORP teams have just recently been fully staffed.  At this time there is limited data from the functioning of all three teams to assess how an additional ACORP team will be needed.

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