Police, fire, EMT and mental health: How one city is leading the charge to reshape 911
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city → lead → 911
On a recent Wednesday in Durham, N.C., Rob Crisp and Allie Craft were on a mission, equipped with snacks, bottled water and hygiene kits.
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Crisp → equip → snacks
They are part of Durham's unarmed community response team, and they were looking for a man someone called 911 about.
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someone → look → 911
"Our notes say we got a trespasser on a business property.
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we → say → property
He has a bunch of belongings, and he's refusing to leave," Crisp said.
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Crisp → have → belongings
In a parking lot on the side of a strip mall, they found the man, wearing a McDonald's T-shirt and a backward baseball cap and toting several full garbage bags and a sofa with him.
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they → find → him
Crisp approached the man, who looked tense.
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who → approach → man
He said he didn't want anyone to touch his things.
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anyone → say → things
Crisp, a peer support specialist who has struggled with drug addiction in the past, took his time talking with him.
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who → struggle → him
"I can relate to not having anything," Crisp later told NPR.
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Crisp → relate → NPR
After a few minutes, he calmed the man down.
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he → calm → man
"I was like, 'We're not trying to bother you, but hey, we do have some supplies while we are here.
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we → try → supplies
Is it all right if we get you a bag together?'
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we → get → bag
Little things like that to say, 'Hey, I don't have a gun.
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I → say → gun
I don't have a badge.
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I → have → badge
I'm here because I feel for you, brother,'" Crisp said.
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Crisp → feel → you
Crisp and Craft, a mental health clinician, gave the man water and a fresh pair of socks.
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Crisp → give → socks
They convinced him to haul his things off the property and onto a nearby vacant lot.
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They → convince → lot
It was not a long-term solution, but it resolved the immediate conflict.
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it → resolve → conflict
Just five years ago, police would have most likely been dispatched to respond to this 911 call.
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police → dispatch → call
But since the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, dozens of cities around the United States have made the same calculation: that calls like this don't always need an armed officer.
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calls → make → officer
In 2020, there were only six programs in the U.S. that sent unarmed responders, such as mental health clinicians, to certain 911 calls instead of police officers.
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that → be → calls
Now, these programs — sometimes called alternative or community response — are in nearly 100 cities.
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programs → call → cities
Durham's program — the Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Team (HEART) — launched in 2022 and has since responded to more than 25,000 911 calls.
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program → launch → calls
The community response team now operates citywide.
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team → operate → ?
The program also has a limited co-response team, in which mental health clinicians are paired with a police officer on patrol, as well as a mental health clinician embedded in the city's 911 call center.
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clinicians → have → center
"Honestly, I would say if you can send a social worker to a call that you could send a law enforcement officer and you got the same results, then it's already a success," says Ryan Smith, director of the Durham Community Safety Department, which runs the program.
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which → say → program
Recent research suggests Durham is seeing signs of success: A preliminary study from researchers at Duke University last year found that the program has increased 911 calls, a potential sign of growing public trust.
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program → suggest → trust
A study this year by the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) found that the city's program is also associated with fewer arrests, that most police officers find it helpful and that police are rarely called for backup.
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police → find → backup
Elsewhere, other community response programs have also been studied.
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programs → study → ?
A 2022 Stanford University study of a program in Denver found evidence that it reduced reports of certain crimes by more than a third.
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it → find → third
A 2025 study found that a program in Eugene, Ore., reduced the likelihood of a 911 call resulting in an arrest and increased access to medical care.
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program → find → care
Still, relatively few of these programs nationwide have been studied, and they're not always an easy sell.
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they → study → programs
In Durham, Patrice Andrews, the city's former chief of police until earlier this year, helped launch HEART.
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Andrews → help → HEART
She says at the time, police officers in the city had concerns, even though many agreed that they were not always needed at a 911 call and that forgoing certain calls could potentially free them up to investigate other crimes.
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forgoing → say → crimes
"Their heartburn was, "OK, are we going to have to protect these people that are unarmed?
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that → go → people
They don't have the knowledge that we have with law enforcement tactics,'" she says.
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she → have → tactics
"And then there was the political side of it — that this was this ultra-uber-liberal idea being pushed down our throats.
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this → be → throats
This was 'They're not backing the blue.'"
Over time, Andrews says, police officers began to accept the program as a fourth and equal wing of 911 response, alongside police, fire and emergency medical services.
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officers → back → police
It helped, she says, that police and HEART are on the same radio channel for dispatch: Police officers can hear the unarmed responders, and vice versa.
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officers → help → responders
…and 54 more, not listed.
The Aporia
