San Jose is struggling to divert 911 calls related to mental and emotional distress away from police, despite the county adopting the 988 mental crisis hotline two years ago to handle those situations.
A recent report shows county mental health teams in 2023 responded to just 2 percent of nearly 60,000 San Jose 911 calls that officials found better suited for a non-police response. Even in those situations, police responded jointly. San Jose only started rerouting certain lower level calls to 988, a suicide and crisis hotline, in January, and police are still being dispatched because alternative response teams don’t have enough resources to meet demand.
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