Should Austin police officers respond to mental health crisis calls?
Should officers respond to mental health crisis calls
New data shows police have responded to thousands of mental health calls in recent years. But, comments from the Austin Police Union and a community organization critical of police have sparked conversations about how mental health calls should be responded to.
AUSTIN, Texas - New data shows police have responded to thousands of mental health calls in recent years.
But, comments from the Austin Police Union and a community organization critical of police have sparked conversations about how mental health calls should be responded to.
Should APD officers respond to mental health calls?
What they're saying:
"I believe the Austin Police Department must stop responding to mental health calls," Austin Police Association President Michael Bullock said in a video posted to X.
Bullock had a message after now former police officer Christopher Taylor was sentenced to two years in prison for the 2019 death of Mauris DeSilva during a mental health crisis.
"We have never claimed to be mental health experts, yet we are continually scrutinized for our handling of these situations," Bullock said.
Since the Austin Justice Coalition’s inception, the group has called for community alternatives to policing.
"I think as an officer, if I'm trained to go weapon first in an instance where I think my life is in jeopardy, you know, as much as I hate that, I can empathize with Chris Taylor if I'm thinking that way. But the fact that we send people that we trained to really just put out a fire at all costs, the fact that we send them first and foremost to these types of situations I think is a huge red flag," Austin Justice Coalition Founder Chas Moore said.
"I think the biggest thing is opening up the box of public safety to more than just police, giving community groups the funding they need to really ramp up and be able to provide service to not only small pockets of communities, but to the city as a whole," Moore said.
What is the current protocol?
What we know:
Currently, when someone calls 911, they are given four options; police, fire EMS, or mental health services. If the caller says mental health services, an initial assessment is done to ensure there isn’t a public safety issue, and then they are transferred to one of the 19 Integral Care clinicians.
This is something that wasn’t available during the 2019 DeSilva shooting.
"I absolutely think this person would be alive, and I think many other people would be alive," Moore said.
The backstory:
An Integral Care representative said the clinicians de-escalate situations, provide resources and emotional support, and make a safety plan with the caller. If needed, they can deploy their Expanded Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, which is usually a clinician and peer support.
In fiscal year 2024, the call center clinicians handled almost 5,000 calls. Of those, 87 percent were resolved without sending them back to police.
"There are people that they give a very huge portion of their lives to learn how to handle people that are going through mental duress, handle, people that are going through some type of mental breakdown as opposed to who out of six months of training, if they're lucky, they'll get 40 or maybe 120 hours," Moore said.
By the numbers:
Not all mental health calls for service, though, are vetted by clinicians.
Austin police reported responding to anywhere from about 34,000 to almost 52,000 mental health calls for service each year since 2020.
Austin Police Mental Health Calls for Service:
- 2020: 46,467
- 2021: 51,540
- 2022: 44,291
- 2023: 37,268
- 2024: 34,286
In that time, the Austin Police Department said there were no instances of deadly force noted for any identified mental health calls for service.
"For it to be zero, I think that's a lack of being able to identify and actually record accurately," Moore said.
APD's response
Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis said they will continue to respond.
"To fulfill our mission to serve and protect our community, the Austin Police Department will continue to respond to community calls for police service, including calls involving people experiencing behavior and mental health crises. I understand the concerns expressed by the Austin Police Association. We must prevent harm to all Austin community members, including our responding officers. Moving forward, we will be working hard to develop a holistic response to persons experiencing a mental health crisis. As a City, we will embrace evidence-based practices and develop a robust co-response model that provides officers with additional mental health resources to effectively respond to real-time crises. I look forward to partnering with mental health stakeholders and city leadership to ensure that our officers remain healthy and confident in their ability to serve all community members."
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Meredith Aldis