Seattle: Expanding its Behavioral Health Program to Meet Increasing Demand

Seattle is expanding its program that sends behavioral health specialists to some 911 calls. The city plans to put a bigger team in place by the end of 2024, with a goal of adding 18 more responders and three more supervisors. Currently, six behavioral health specialists respond to about a dozen calls each week, involving people who are lost or evicted, in distress, or who need clothes or shoes.

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s vision was to set up and legislate a third public safety department, alongside the police and fire departments. Smith oversees the program and believes that the behavioral health team should respond to more than a dozen calls per week. The team currently responds to around 900,000 calls for service (to 911), with about 40-50% of these calls not requiring fire or police intervention. However, the city’s agreement with the police union limits how many calls the behavioral health team gets.

Smith hopes for a simple system that determines if a call requires a gun and a badge, medical transport, or is a fire. If none of these criteria fit, then she believes that a civilian response should handle the situation. The behavioral health team has already responded to over 539 calls since October 2023 and will continue to expand its operations daily from noon to 10 pm by the end of next year.