St. Louis, MO Cops and Clinicians 911 mental health diversion program helps residents & saves money
St. Louis, MO 911 diversion program for mental health crises
The City of St. Louis launched the "Cops and Clinicians" 911 diversion pilot program designed to help residents who are experiencing a mental health crisis. During the pilot, certain 911 calls were rerouted to a mental health crisis hotline operated by Behavioral Health Response and in other cases social workers were dispatched alongside police officers. The goal of the pilot was to keep residents experiencing mental health crises out of the judicial system entirely.
Newsworthy
New St. Louis program to divert mental health calls away from 911 | Law and order | stltoday.com
The city will roll out the program in effort to better address mental health needs and also ease the burden on police and EMS workers.
Mental health diversion programs saving St. Louis money | STLPR
The two programs combined may have saved the city $2.6 million in police and EMS costs in the first eight months of operation, according to an analysis donated by Mastercard.
Project Succeeded
In the first eight months, the pilot diverted 5,000 calls and saved the city approximately $2.6 million mostly in personnel costs in the police department and EMS. Most callers who were directed to the crisis hotline did not need to call 911 again and most were able to avoid hospitalization for mental health needs.
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