About eight out of every 10 Michigan county sheriffs and local police chiefs support having some type of specialized emergency response that would include professionals in fields like mental health and social work for some 911 calls, according to Michigan Public Policy Survey results published this month.
A few Michigan cities have already begun implementing hybrid or alternative emergency response programs. The programs are becoming more common across the country, with 44 of the 50 largest U.S. cities having an alternative 911 emergency response program, according to a March 2024 study.
The survey was conducted in April and May of 2024 by the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy. It asked local and state government officials from 1,307 local jurisdictions across Michigan questions about specialized emergency response programs. It also included responses from 54 county sheriffs, 234 chiefs of police or directors of public safety, and 55 county prosecutors.
The survey evaluated perceptions of co-response teams involving civilian professionals but led by law enforcement, alternative response teams involving civilian professionals led by other departments within local government but not including law enforcement, and alternative response teams administered by independent community groups.
Debra Horner, senior program manager of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, helped oversee the survey and broke down what an alternative or hybrid emergency response team would look like.
“So the idea is instead of sending police officers to every 911 call, sometimes there would be alternatives where social workers or mental health professionals or other kinds of professionals could go out with the officers, or instead of the officers, to address mental health calls, domestic violence calls, and other emergency crisis situations,” Horner said.
While 84% of Michigan county sheriffs and 82% of local police chiefs support some form of co-response or alternative response to 911 calls, fewer local government officials support such a program. According to the survey, 52% of local government officials said they would be in support.
Officials in cities or towns with a population over 30,000 residents were found to be more supportive of a co-response program led by law enforcement than cities or towns with smaller populations. Law enforcement leaders who believe crime is “a significant problem” in their community were also more supportive of these alternative or hybrid programs.
The majority of police chiefs, sheriffs, and local government leaders said, however, that they believe it would be difficult to implement a co-response team in their local communities.
More local government leaders in cities or towns with more than 30,000 residents also believed it would be less difficult to implement such a response team in their community than local government leaders in smaller communities.
The survey also noted that many law enforcement and local government leaders believe their local 911 service receives too many calls for situations that do not require law enforcement attention. More law enforcement leaders supported an alternative phone number for residents to call in a crisis compared to local government officials.
The Detroit Police Department established a centralized mental health co-response unit three years ago to meet the mental health needs of Detroit. In 2024, the unit received over 16,000 calls, which means that officers responded to an average of 40 mental health calls a day. The Michigan Public Policy Survey found that 15-16% of Michigan law enforcement leaders said their agency has already implemented a police co-response and alternative response program.
Horner told Michigan Public that the survey asked an open-ended question to law enforcement leaders who indicated that they already had an alternative or hybrid emergency response program in place.
“And they were uniformly, again, very supportive and very positive about the experience they're having,” Horner said. “One local government sheriff said that this is one of the best programs we have implemented.”
“But they did say that they think there’s opportunities for cost savings and there's opportunities for being able to send people who are better able to address some of the issues that people need help with when they call 911 when they're in crisis,” Horner said.
The Joyce Foundation, a private nonpartisan group that supports research, conducted a 2023 survey that found that 73% of Michigan voters support investments in additional approaches to emergency response calls alongside traditional policing. These approaches might include mental health professionals, trained social workers, and community-based violence intervention specialists.
Some law enforcement and local government officials expressed concerns about implementing hybrid or alternative response programs. According to the Michigan Public Policy Survey, these concerns were related to the ability to keep civilian responders safe and the local availability of mental health professionals to serve as responders. Survey responders also shared some concerns about how the programs could potentially reduce police budgets, particularly in smaller communities.
