Phoenix 911 system adding behavioral health response
New 911 system streamlines mental health calls in Phoenix
A major change to the Phoenix 911 system begins Monday, Dec. 15, expanding operator assistance beyond police and fire calls to include behavioral health response. FOX 10's Brian Webb has the details.
PHOENIX - A big change is coming to the Phoenix 911 system on Monday, Dec. 15.
Operators will begin offering more than just help with fire and police emergencies. This is part of the city of Phoenix’s multi-million dollar effort to streamline the process of getting the right help to the right people.
What we know:
The city of Phoenix 911 call system is getting a modern makeover, with operators now asking callers if they need behavioral health assistance in addition to police or fire.
"So when someone calls 911, our police dispatch or communications division does an assessment of what the needs are. If they determine that police and fire are not needed on that call, they’ll transfer that over to us, and we’ll send out a team," said D.C. Ernst with the city of Phoenix Community Assistance Program.
Ernst said behavioral health calls have more than doubled in recent months and years.
"In September, there were 561 calls that were transferred to us from police dispatch, and we also, on top of going on those, we went on a total of over 970 calls in total to help people," Ernst said.
Dig deeper:
The change is not only about getting people the right help but also about saving resources for the right kinds of emergencies.
"It's going to show that we’re starting to recognize differences between PD, differences between fire department, differences between behavioral health. The fact that we’re kind of going this way is a great attribute to what the city has been doing," Phoenix Fire Capt. DJ Lee said.
The behavioral health help will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Calls will still be assessed to see if police or fire need to respond as well.
The first step, according to Ernst, is getting people to trust the new system.
"We really hope that those in need of some services trust the 911 system to get them what they need in a timely manner," Ernst said.
Big picture view:
The city of Tempe started a similar program a couple of years ago, directing mental health calls to professionals who can help. Other major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia and Denver are doing the same.