Tampa police debut new system for responding to 911 mental health calls

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Tampa Police Department has a new system to help people going through a mental health crisis connect to the right resources quicker.

When someone calls 911 in Tampa because they’re struggling and don’t know where to turn, they’ll now be connected to a crisis counselor like Tina Thai.

“A lot of people feel alone,” Thai said. “I just want people to not feel alone and like they have a friend in this world.”

Thai is helping TPD implement their new crisis intervention dispatch service program.

It diverts 911 mental health crisis calls to the people trained to handle and de-escalate the situation.

“It really helps out everybody when these organizations step up because at times, and we see it throughout the news throughout the nation, how those calls are handled is not the way we would like at the end of the day,” Deputy Chief Calvin Johnson said.

The deputy chief explained how a person going through a crisis with a weapon could make matters worse.

“It changes the whole dynamic from getting them help to the officer’s safety,” he said.

With this new system, those who specialize in these types of situations can quickly provide resources to those who need them most.

“It’s very situational with a crisis so homeless, financial assistance, mental health sources, psychiatric services,” Thai said. “Those are some that we’ve given so far.”

This program started on July 1.

Since then, TPD said they’ve received 100 911 calls concerning a mental health crisis.

This new partnership with the crisis counselors took care of nearly a third of those calls allowing officers to stay on top of the job they were trained to do.

You can also call 211 to reach the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay.

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