FOX 25: Mental health related 911 calls dispatched to Oklahoma City police officers have dropped by 57%, according to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.
ODMHSAS reports in October of last year officers were dispatched to 1,192 mental health calls.
That number shrunk in October of this year to 549 calls.
Mental Health Commissioner Allie Friesen said this means Oklahomans are utilizing the 988 lifeline, which was launched in July of 2022.
“It takes some time obviously for the general public to understand what this is and when to call and what kind of action or lack of action to expect,” she said. “But, this is exactly what we want to be seeing is that we’re decreasing the pressure on law enforcement and we’re decreasing the need for them to respond.”
Friesen said the level of care and experience for someone having a mental health crisis differs based on who responds.
“There’s a certain of course very specific need for law enforcement in some potentially dangerous or clearly dangerous situations, but when an individual is in a mental health crisis or on the brink of a mental health crisis having an individual that’s trained and licensed and can support you through that process is a whole different game,” Friesen said.
Oklahoma City Police Chief Ron Bacy told FOX 25 responding to less of these calls frees officers up for other priority calls and city needs.
“We took 1.4 million 911 calls last year, and so there’s definitely a need for response and just being able to prioritize those is important for the officers and the community as well,” he said.
Chief Bacy said officers receive crisis intervention training while they are in the academy, but through resources like 988 Oklahomans can be connected with the help they need from mental health professionals.
“Now obviously if you call 911 we have the ability to redirect it to the appropriate resource, but the fact that 57% of those calls were decreased that were dispatched to officers is amazing,” Bacy said. “It’s not to say that we won’t ever need police officers on crisis calls, because there are certainly those circumstances that require it but when it doesn’t those resources are there and they’re starting to grow and we’re really excited about that.”
From October of last year to October of this year, ODMHSAS reports call volume for 988 is up 79% in Oklahoma County. Friesen said this means more people are gaining awareness of it.