Dallas Fire-Rescue and the Dallas Police Department soon could change the way they respond to calls with behavioral health emergencies.
The departments have been working with Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute for Texas to improve the way they respond to such calls — and with recent funding that plan can be put into action.
A three-year, $1.5 million grant from the W. W. Caruth Jr. Communities Foundation of Texas will help DFR and DPD deploy teams including specially-trained police officers, paramedics, and mental health experts in cases of behavioral health emergencies, according to a city release.
A pilot program, expected to begin in 2017, will test out the new method.
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