SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – The last two times the Springfield city council has gotten together, Ald. Jennifer Notariano has urged the purchase of predictive software to determine which police officers need mental health assistance. She brought up the $75,000 proposal as the council was considering buying ten Ford Explorer Police Interceptors for $62,000 each.

David Amerson smells a rat.

Amerson, executive director of the Illinois Police Benevolent Labor Committee, says the company Notariano favors, Benchmark Analytics, originally produced software to address officer misconduct but now has “pivoted” to officer wellness — attempting to predict which officers need assistance.

“Frankly, I can’t help but feel that this brouhaha at this stage of the budget process,” said Amerson, “when the budget has already been adopted, is probably less about officer mental health and more about scoring political points for an upcoming municipal election.” Springfield voters will select a mayor and aldermen April 6, 2027.

The Benchmark software is not in the budget. The Explorers are.

Amerson said while Benchmark is probably no better or worse than other companies with similar products, “we have a generalized concern about anything that purports to reduce something as complex as mental health into a subscription service that you just log onto and you don’t have to worry about mental health counseling; you just get a score how everyone’s mental health is.” Another point which raises his suspicions is that the subject came up with no discussion as opposed to being “used in such a ham-fisted way to say, hey, here’s a solution to officer mental health, when there was apparently no real research or investigation into it.”

The “gold standard” for monitoring police mental health, Amerson says, is requiring all officers to see a counselor – a human one.

The council did approve the ten police SUV’s.