Alternatives to 911 for a mental health crisis already exist. The question heading into 2027 is how well they connect to keep people safe.
A woman calls 911 after her son hasn’t slept in two days. He’s in the driveway, and she can’t see who he’s speaking to. She tells the operator multiple times, “he’s not a bad guy. He is scared.” Nobody is hurt. Nobody is armed. But she is scared. Will he run? Will he clam up? Will he become violent? Will he listen when someone tries to help?
These are all questions that can come up during a 911 emergency call. This is just a mixture of events that could have occurred on one call. When you’re working in the space of crisis, you learn that calls can evolve very quickly.
Experience wearing a police badge can make the brain default to what is needed to stay safe. Where are his hands? How far away is he? What are the egress points? Who else is there? What’s not being told? What could turn this around quickly? Volunteer crisis counseling and training in Clinical Counseling Psychology can also prompt different questions. What is this person scared of? What are they perceiving to be happening? Can they understand what is being said? What is the next safest step?
Both mindsets can coexist. If done correctly, they can complement each other.
The Future of 911 Alternatives: A Connected Crisis Response System
This is where the alternative-to-911 conversation should be headed. Police vs. behavioral health responses isn’t the goal. A response system that can grow and shrink based on the situation is.
Why 911 and Behavioral Health Response Shouldn’t Be Either/Or
The 2025 National Guidelines for a Behavioral Health Coordinated System of Crisis Care describe three foundational parts of a coordinated crisis system: someone to contact, someone to respond, and a safe place for help.
Seems pretty straightforward, right? Well, there can be many points of contact and types of responses to use during a call. Someone may call 988, need mobile crisis to show up, EMS for medical concerns, and then police because they are deemed unsafe.
They may also call 911 when they aren’t experiencing any crime or danger to others. How are citizens supposed to know what to call? They aren’t. These services need to be able to talk to one another.
How 988 Is Changing Behavioral Health Crisis Response
According to a July 2026 Government Accountability Office report, approximately 19.1 million calls, texts, and chats were routed to 988 crisis centers between July 2022 and September 2025. During that period, call volume increased about 87% and text volume about 260%.
But adding a number doesn’t automatically create the system needed to support those people. SAMHSA’s guidance on coordinating 988 and 911 focuses on exactly that problem: knowing when to transfer a call, managing risk and liability, and building relationships before the difficult call exposes the gaps.
Preparing for that tough call is what will drive crisis response in 2027.
Why Crisis Calls Need Dynamic Triage
When a 911 call is received, there is limited information to go on. Dispatchers are amazing at what they do, but they can only work with what they are given. When someone says another person is aggressive, it could mean the person is screaming. They could be punching walls. Or they could be walking towards another person armed with a gun. Those are all different calls. Crisis systems need to allow the response to scale up or down as information changes.
If civilians show up to a call and realize there is imminent danger or a weapon, there needs to be the ability to request police immediately. If police show up and realize there isn’t a crime or threat, and they can see a behavioral health concern, there should be an easy way to involve a clinician.
6 Strategies That Could Make Crisis Response Safer in 2027
Having that flexibility allows for more opportunities for diversion. Here are some things that could be implemented in the next stage of crisis response:
1. Create a “No Wrong Door” 911-988 Referral System
If someone is in crisis, they shouldn’t have to re-tell their story because they called the wrong number. Key information should be able to be passed from the 911 call taker/988 counselor to the next point of contact. Ensure that the point of contact knows who is on their way and remains on the line if the situation calls for it. Have a way to track those referrals and how often they were successful.
Denver can serve as an example of multiple response options. Their STAR civilian response team exists in addition to their police clinician Co-Responder Program. A 2026 Urban Institute evaluation showed that there were over 20,000 calls to each program from June 2020 to September 2024. They determined that there was a lower likelihood of future arrests than with a police-only response. At the same time, they were mindful of their limitations.
2. Build a Live Inventory of Crisis Services
As a responder, you spend a lot of time finding out if something is open. Suppose there are beds, teams, and transport available. How long will they have to wait? A database that dispatchers, 988, Mobile Crisis, Co-Responder, and approved facilities could all access would be extremely helpful. It could save lives by helping clients find somewhere to go sooner.
3. Close the Loop on Crisis Referrals
Just because someone was given a referral doesn’t mean it was successful. There are so many reasons someone may not make it to that appointment. Having the ability to see where those referrals fail (within the rules of confidentiality) can help programs know where to improve. This is also why successful diversion outcomes will become more important. Helping someone avoid jail tonight is great, but what is being done to ensure they have a plan for tomorrow?
4. Use AI to Improve Crisis Response Systems, Not People
There will be pressure to insert AI into decision-making. A safer place to start is implementing it in things that won’t directly harm customers. Forecasting how many calls may be received, how many staff are needed to cover those calls, and how many referrals fail to complete. Time of day and location with high call volumes. Allow AI to help organize handoff information for human review and assist in finding services that may be open. Once these changes are implemented, AI can be considered for use in diversion decisions. But until then, it should stay focused on bettering the system as a whole.
5. Build Rural 911 Alternatives for Rural Communities
As SAMHSA’s 2026 advisory on rural peer support points out, rural communities face workforce shortages, long waitlists, and transportation challenges. So what does a rural alternative to 911 look like? Maybe it’s spreading teams out across different regions. Partnering with EMS to transport. Utilizing Tele-Crisis. Peers and allowing clinicians to spread their knowledge. Transportation will always be an issue, but there are ways to better that too. Using a rural solution and calling it an urban solution with less money won’t work. Something needs to be created specifically for rural communities.
6. Use Near-Miss Reviews to Improve Crisis Response
Crisis response can also learn from other industries that experience life-threatening situations. Looking at near misses. Not every call ends in tragedy. Maybe the wrong unit was sent out to a call, and it took a while to get help. There was valuable information that wasn’t heard on the call. The response took too long to arrive. By having a near-miss conference, teams can learn from what didn’t work and fix it for the next call. This can also apply to Co-Responder programs. Communication in Co-Responder programs needs to happen before the next call that tests the system.
Safety and Empathy Should Work Together
Remember that woman who called 911 earlier. She doesn’t care if it is called a police response, co-response, mobile crisis, or 988. She wants her son to live. She wants the responders to be safe. She wants someone to understand that fear can look like not wanting help. She wants a plan when this is over.
That is what crisis response systems need to remember. 911 will always be needed. Police, EMS, clinicians, and crisis lines will always be needed. Hospitals and Mobile Crisis teams will continue to be needed as well. The goal is to create a network that helps people in crisis access those resources. By 2027, crisis response systems need to be better at providing more options to help keep citizens safe.
What Changes for 988 in 2027?
Another change is coming in 2027. The FCC has required nationwide wireless providers to support geographic routing for 988 text messages by April 16, 2027, allowing texts to be routed based on the user’s general geographic area rather than simply the phone’s area code. That should improve crisis centers’ ability to connect people with relevant local services.
Frequently Asked Questions About 911 Alternatives
What are alternatives to 911 for a mental health crisis?
Depending on the community, options may include 988, mobile crisis teams, civilian response teams, co-responder programs, and specialized Crisis Intervention Team officers.
Does alternative crisis response mean removing police?
No. A layered crisis-response model preserves law enforcement for situations involving immediate safety threats while allowing behavioral-health professionals to lead calls where clinical or social-service needs are primary.
What is the difference between 911 and 988?
911 remains the emergency number for immediate public-safety and medical emergencies. 988 connects people experiencing suicidal, mental-health, or substance-use crises with trained crisis counselors and local crisis resources.
