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ST. LOUIS — Places like New York, Houston, Baltimore and Tucson, Arizona are bringing mental health workers into the fold when it comes to answering 911 calls – and now, so is St. Louis.
This month, the Board of Alderman approved a plan to take $860,000 away from the city’s jail budget and use it to divert some 911 calls to crisis intervention experts instead of dispatching emergency responders. The program, known as the 911 Diversion and Co-Responder Program will also pair mental health workers with police responding to crisis situations on the streets…
