Contextual Factors of Mental Health Crisis Calls to Law Enforcement: A Brief Report

Law enforcement officers are frequent first responders to people experiencing mental health or suicide crises. Yet, as communities consider expanding crisis response options, we know very little about the nature of these calls that could inform decision making about which crisis response is best suited for the situation. This study is an exploratory, descriptive assessment of contextual factors, both individual and situational, of mental health and suicide crisis calls. Our dataset includes 166 calls to 9-1-1 related to a mental health emergency or suicide crisis. The majority were calls related to suicide (125 calls, 75%), which included more contextual factors than mental health crisis calls. Most calls resulted in the subject being transferred to the local emergency department (60%) or were resolved on scene (12%). Police use of force was rare, and no arrests were reported. The implications of these findings for communities developing alternatives to law enforcement crisis response are discussed.