Austin 911 operators have successfully diverted thousands of calls to crisis clinicians as part of a program to better address mental health calls, according to a memo from Austin Police Chief Joseph Chacon.
APD’s Emergency Communications Center developed the Mental Health Crisis Call Diversion (CCD) program in 2019, in collaboration with Austin-Travis County Integral Care.
Last year, 82% of calls with a mental health crisis component were “diverted,” meaning clinicians were able to help the caller without the need to send a police officer.
