LOUISVILLE Ky. —-A new pilot program launching in the city of Louisville is aiming to better assist people having a mental or behavioral health crisis while freeing up police officers to respond to violent crimes.

What You Need To Know

  • The city of Louisville is launching a pilot 911 call deflection program

  • The program will be only be available in LMPD'S Fourth Division due to high number of mental health crisis calls

  • The program was made possible by a $5 million dollar investment in deflection and diversion programs as part of the FY22 budget

  • The goal is to launch the pilot program Dec. 1

When an emergency call comes in for a person having a mental health crisis, often times, police officers are the ones who respond.

The city of Louisville is seeking to re-imagine public safety through the launch of a pilot program that was made possible by a $5 million dollar investment in deflection and diversion programs as part of Mayor Greg Fischer’s approved budget this year.

"Creating a safe city is obviously is too big a job for any one agency, any one police officer, any one mental health respondent, any one citizen and it's something that we all have to work together to create here in our city," Mayor Greg Fischer noted.

The Alternate Response Model, set to begin Dec. 1, aims to connect callers with the most appropriate resources and responses for their needs.

A research team at the University of Louisville developed the program alongside Seven County Services. Crisis intervention teams will be equipped to respond to nonviolent behavioral health emergency calls that don’t require law enforcement.

Susan Buchino, Assistant Professor, University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences tells Spectrum News 1, "in the model we envision a behavioral health hub within the MetroSafe 911 call center. When a call is made to 9-1-1 and identified as potentially appropriate for a DOVE delegate response, call center staff will transfer the call to the behavioral health hub for further triage.

9-1-1 dispatchers will evaluate whether the call meets the criteria for a mobile response unit consisting of crisis interventionists, known as DOVE dispatchers, or Diversion Options: Voice and Empowerment.

9-1-1 operators will also receive specialized training to help identify situations when an in person response should go instead of police, or a mobile response unit consisting of trained dove dispatchers, will be available.

"The behavioral health hub triage worker will consider the situation, the needs of the caller, responder availability, and risks and maybe able to de-escalate the crisis during the conversation," explains Buchino.

When the program launches, it will start in Louisville Metro Police Department's (LMPD) Fourth Division, which is where research shows the city has a high call volume of crisis intervention related calls.

According to Buchino, of the more than 40,000 calls MetroSafe received to 9-1-1 from June 2019 to May 2021, at least 20% came from the fourth division.

LMPD Sgt. Pam Oberhausen said, "giving people resources that they never had before, getting people help they need right when they need it as opposed to not being able to do that."

Researchers noted that the program will start small. They plan to expand the program in the future as the community learns the best ways to help those in need.

"We are determined to get this right and build a system that redefines community safety in Louisville," explains Buchino.

At the end of the pilot program, city officials say they will measure the success to see if it’s something that they will continue. 

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