1. Study: Austin’s Embedded 911 Clinicians Reduced Emergency Detentions By More Than 40 Percent, Arrests By Nearly 40 Percent. Researchers from Cornell University, the Austin Police Department, Integral Care, and the University of Texas recently published a study in Psychiatric Services Journal examining Austin’s Embedded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, or EMCOT, the city’s much-lauded program that deploys trained mental health professionals to behavioral health emergencies and is embedded directly inside Austin’s 911 call center.
Using more than five years of 911 call data, researchers compared over 16,000 behavioral health-related calls that were transferred to a clinician with more than 4,000 similar calls that arrived when clinicians were unavailable. Researchers found that embedding behavioral health professionals in 911 centers produced “important public health and public safety benefits,” reducing involuntary detentions, arrests, and officer time on scene. Researchers concluded that the model works largely because clinicians can resolve many behavioral health crises without a police response and dispatch mobile crisis teams when needed.
The study highlights three significant impacts of embedding clinicians directly into 911 call centers:
- Emergency Detentions Fell By More Than 40%. Researchers found that clinician involvement reduced the likelihood of a peace officer emergency detention by 43.2%, averting more than 300 involuntary detentions over the study period. Calls handled by clinicians were significantly less likely to result in a detention than similar calls that arrived when clinicians were unavailable. The authors concluded that embedding clinicians in 911 “significantly reduced the likelihood of involuntary detentions.”
- Likelihood Of Arrest Fell By 37%, While More People Were Connected To Care. Researchers found that embedding clinicians reduced the likelihood of arrests by 37.5%, a change which was directly tied to the embedded clinicians, as researchers noted, “the mechanism underlying these estimated program impacts was… related to the clinicians’ success in resolving eligible calls [on the phone or through dispatching mobile crisis response] without the need for a police response.”
- Thousands Of Police Hours Were Redirected To Higher-Priority Calls. The study found that clinician involvement reduced average officer time on scene by 50.2%, averting an estimated 6,994 hours of officer time. Researchers concluded that the program produced “important public health and public safety benefits” and estimated it ultimately prevented “approximately 7,000–13,500 hours of police officer time at the scene of nonviolent, noncriminal behavioral health-related incidents.” The result, they found, enabled officers “to focus on higher-acuity public safety calls” while behavioral health professionals handled crisis-related calls.
2. Study: Mobile Crisis Response Works Best When A City’s First Responders Understand Each Other’s Roles. Researchers from the University of Louisville published a new study in Psychological Services examining the first 12 months of Louisville, Kentucky’s Crisis Call Diversion Program, which routes qualifying behavioral health crisis calls from 911 to crisis clinicians and mobile response teams, instead of law enforcement. Using qualitative interviews and focus groups with 52 participants—including 911 call-takers, police officers, and alternative responders—the researchers examined what helps mental health crisis response systems function effectively in practice.
Their central finding was simple: crisis response systems work best when first responders from all of the public safety branches understand one another’s roles and build trust through experience. As one responder put it, “we just need to get used to each other and learn each other’s process a little bit better.” The researchers found that cross-training, shadowing, and opportunities to work together helped responders gain confidence in the system and one another.
The study highlights three practical lessons for communities building alternative crisis response systems:
- Trust In Mobile Crisis Responders Grew Through Exposure To Them And Their Approach To Crisis Response. The researchers found that officers became more confident in mobile crisis response teams as they gained firsthand experience working with them. While many officers felt prepared through Crisis Intervention Team training, they also recognized the limits of a law enforcement response. As one officer explained, “most [behavioral health crisis] runs are not officer issues … it’s not a crime to be mentally ill.” Another noted that “[officers] are not mental health professionals. We can get through it to a certain point, but it’s not what we were officially training to do.” As officers learned more about the role of clinicians, trust increased. One officer concluded that mobile crisis responders “are very good at talking to people because that is why they do it … I would take them over me any day of the week [in a mental health response]…”
- Mobile Crisis Responders Understanding Law Enforcement—And Vice Versa—Helped Build A More Seamless Response System. The study found that role confusion was one of the biggest barriers to implementation. Officers said they were often unsure why some calls were routed to mobile crisis teams while others were not, while alternative responders wanted a better understanding of how police operate in the field. As one responder explained, “I really would like to shadow police officers,” while another said, “it’s not just about them kind of rising to our level, it’s about having a clear understanding of what it’s like to work with that other person.” Researchers found that responders consistently called for more cross-training, shadowing, and opportunities to learn each other’s roles.
- Seeing Alternative Responders In Action Built Confidence In The Model. Across responder groups, participants said their understanding of alternative response deepened through direct experience rather than formal training alone. One call-taker recalled being “terrified when [mobile crisis response] first came out… I did not listen to anybody out there that was not wearing a gun,” but changed her view after meeting crisis responders and seeing them work in the field: “Once I met … the people out on the street [on the mobile crisis team] … and I realized that they can take care of themselves, and how they work with people and how calming they are with people… they’re knowledgeable… I felt much better about it.”
Momentum For Mobile Crisis Response Teams Around The Country:
- Rochester, New York, Expands Its Mobile “Person In Crisis” Team, After It Has “Lowered Number Of Arrests [And] … Emergency Room Visits.” For WXXI News, Gino Fanelli reports on the city’s expansion of its lauded Person In Crisis team with seven new peer navigators, using a $2 million state investment after the team has successfully “lower[ed] the number of arrests for those having a crisis, as well as lower[ed] hospitalizations or emergency room visits.” The new positions will be filled by peer navigators, people with lived experience who can help connect with individuals experiencing mental health and substance use crises. As PIC manager Alia Henton-Williams explained, peer navigators bring “something different and special to [the team], because they can directly relate to a lot of what we see community members are dealing with.” Since launching in 2021, the team has responded to more than 30,000 calls with “the vast majority [] originated from 911 calls.”
- Evanston, Illinois, Expands Its CARE Team After Becoming One Of The Nation’s Busiest Alternative Response Programs. For CBS Chicago, Megan De Mar reports that Evanston’s four-person Crisis Alternative Response Evanston, or CARE, team has responded to more than 3,500 calls and now ranks seventh nationally in call volume per resident among nearly 100 community responder programs. The mobile crisis team “responds to calls that [] would have been lumped into police calls,” but now go to mental health experts, Jeron Dorsey, the city’s deputy director explained: “Our trained civilians go out and fill in the gap to reduce that burden [on law enforcement], which is, which is really amazing.” Following the program’s early success, the city approved a budget increase of more than 50% to add staff, vehicles, and expanded operating hours.
- Greensboro, North Carolina, Expands Clinician-Led Response Program After A Pilot “Saved More Than 60 Patrol Responses.” For The Rhino Times, Scott D. Yost reports that Greensboro has expanded its Clinician Alternative Response program, which sends two behavioral health clinicians—rather than police officers—to certain low-risk 911 calls involving mental illness, substance use, homelessness, and other crises. The city describes the initiative as part of its effort to provide “the right responders at the right time in the right situations” while reducing “unnecessary interaction with the criminal justice system.” The expansion arrives as the city found that in a three-month period, mobile crisis clinicians responded to dozens of calls that “saved more than 60 patrol responses,” allowing police officers “to remain available for criminal investigations and emergencies.”
3. Safety Ambassadors Helping Make Downtowns “Healthy, Safe And Welcoming For Everybody.”
- Seattle, Washington, Opens A New Operations Hub For Its Growing Downtown Ambassadors Team. For KOMO News, Michelle Esteban reports that Seattle has opened a new street-level command center for its ambassador program at Third Avenue and Pine Street. Downtown Seattle Association President Jon Scholes explained to the news station that the location was chosen deliberately: “This is the lobby of our city… It’s the 50-yard line. It’s everybody’s neighborhood, and it needs to be healthy, safe and welcoming for everybody.” The new facility will serve as an operations center for the ambassador program, which provides a daily presence downtown by helping to clean, beautify, and assist visitors.
- Cleveland, Ohio, Safety Ambassadors Celebrate Milestone—Responding To More Than 13,000 Security Checks While Helping Keep Downtown Clean And Safe. For Cleveland 19 News, Mike Mason reports that Downtown Cleveland Incorporated’s ambassador program conducted more than 13,000 security checks, provided more than 400 safety escorts, collected 759,000 pounds of trash, and removed more than 3,000 graffiti tags in 2025. Downtown Cleveland CEO Michael Deemer explained to the news station that the ambassadors are “an integral part of downtown Cleveland,” with uniformed safety ambassadors serving as a “walking hospitality presence” and providing “additional eyes and ears” to enhance public safety downtown. Beyond safety and beautification work, ambassadors are also trained to connect people experiencing homelessness with services.
- Colorado Springs, Colorado, Safety Ambassador Program Helped Connect People To Housing While Reducing Calls For Police Intervention. For The Gazette, Debbie Kelley reports that Colorado Springs’ Clean & Safe pilot program has logged 1,600 contacts with people experiencing homelessness, 1,500 business check-ins, and 3,500 visitor interactions since launching last summer. Program leaders say the initiative is helping connect people with services while addressing concerns around cleanliness and safety. According to newly released data, two-thirds of individuals who engaged with the homeless outreach team are now “actively pursuing housing” or have been rehoused or returned to stable housing. Downtown Partnership CEO Chelsea Gondeck said those outcomes “wouldn’t happen if [ambassadors] weren’t out there building rapport.” Meanwhile, Clean & Safe teams handled 2,066 security incidents with police involved in only 2.7% of those cases.
