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Will 988 call the police? Data suggests 1% of mental health crisis calls get “involuntary” rescues
Many people in mental health crisis fear that if they dial 988, law enforcement might show up or they might be forced to go to the hospital.
But getting sent that kind of “involuntary emergency rescue” happens to around 1% of callers, suggests new data from Vibrant Emotional Health, the administrator of the 988 Lifeline for suicide and mental health crises.
“Involuntary intervention is the last resort. We want to make sure we’re collaborating and engaging with people in crisis and empowering them, so we don’t need to go in that direction,” said Christopher Drapeau, Vibrant’s director of research and evaluation.
A Pew Charitable Trusts survey last year cited by Vibrant’s white paper found that around 1 in 5 adults worry that law enforcement would be sent after them for using 988 or that they might be forced to go to the hospital.
According to 988’s policies, counselors are urged to use “the least invasive intervention” possible to respond to suicide attempts. But if other attempts to deescalate fail, then counselors can summon other emergency response services like an involuntary rescue.
Counselors for 988 do not have the ability to track the exact location of callers. But the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration or SAMHSA, which oversees Vibrant and the hotline, says in “rare situations” that counselors are able to ask a 911 dispatcher to use “geolocation services” to try and find where a call is coming from.
It is not clear from the data what percentage of the “involuntary” rescues relied on police responding to calls, as opposed to paramedics or another kind of emergency response.
“We haven’t been this transparent in the past. So we want to acknowledge that, and show people that this is what we have,” Drapeau told CBS News of the white paper he authored.
Drapeau said the white paper is his team’s first evaluating the performance of 988 and is the most comprehensive look at the topic to date. The idea for the report came from talks with SAMHSA officials.
Law enforcement have often been the go-to for 911 dispatchers responding to suicide attempts. Advocacy groups have called for more jurisdictions to fund “mobile crisis teams” that can respond to suicide attempts with medics and behavioral health professionals, instead of police.
“If somebody attempted suicide during the call and had a medical injury as a result, you need to respond to that. So I don’t know if we could completely abolish all involuntary interventions,” Drapeau said.
“These numbers may not be perfect”
Vibrant’s white paper focuses on two snapshots of data that come largely from when the line was a 1-800 number, before the nationwide launch of the easier-to-remember 988 shortcut to reach a counselor during a mental health crisis.
The largest snapshot in the paper still only spans around 2 million calls made from 2019 through 2023, tallied from a fraction of the now more than 200 locally run crisis centers that underpin the network.
For context, more than 400,000 calls were routed by the 988 network in July alone.
“We acknowledge the limitations of these data. These numbers may not be perfect. They may differ if we had every single center reporting data, if we had a more precise definition, maybe it changes. But it appears today that the vast majority of 988 calls do not involve emergency services intervention,” said Drapeau.
Of those nearly 2 million calls, the white paper tallies around 2% resulting in emergency services – both “voluntary” and “involuntary” – being sent in response to calls.
Callers categorized by counselors as being at “imminent risk” of suicide, a much narrower group, had emergency services sent to them at a higher rate.
Among those, a quarter got “voluntary dispatches” — with the consent of the callers — while another quarter got “involuntary” rescues.
Better data is in the works. While current figures rely on a mix of requirements and voluntary reporting, a Vibrant spokesperson said it is working with SAMHSA to develop a national standard for what metrics all centers will be required to report in the future.
A plan drawn up by SAMHSA in April calls for states to submit data to the agency on the number of contacts that result in law enforcement being sent.
Another evaluation planned by Vibrant will try to refine the definition of when to deem a caller at “imminent risk” and how to handle those cases. Completing that evaluation will likely take a couple of years, Drapeau said, and will help them figure out how to move from involuntary to more collaborative interventions.
Former President Donald Trump regularly criticizes President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris over what inflation is costing families, citing one figure in particular.
At a Las Vegas rally on Sept. 13, Trump blamed Harris for causing “the worst inflation in American history, costing us and the typical family $28,000.” He also highlighted the $28,000 figure at recent rallies in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona.
Under President Biden, year-over-year inflation — or the pace of price increases — peaked at 9.1% in June 2022, the highest monthly figure in about 40 years, but it has since cooled considerably. In August, inflation hit a three-year low of 2.5%.
Lower inflation means the rate of price increases has slowed, but not that prices themselves have decreased. CBS News’ price tracker shows the cost of everyday household expenses remain higher compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Economists told CBS News that Trump’s $28,000 figure is largely correct. Citing the figure on its own, however, ignores the crucial context that inflation led to income growth, not just price hikes. Data indicates that over the last three and a half years, many Americans have seen a net positive increase in their finances.
Where the $28,000 figure comes from
The estimate that inflation has cost the typical American household $28,000 since Mr. Biden took office is consistent with an inflation tracker from Republicans on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
The tracker is based on government data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis of state-level personal consumption expenditures — one measure of spending on goods and services.
The study tracked monthly costs for the average American household in each state since January 2021. From that point through July 2024, the average cumulative increase in household costs among all 50 states and Washington, D.C., was $27,950, due to inflation. In an update for August 2024, the increase rose to around $29,000.
Economists told CBS News the estimate for the total increase in household costs in the last three and a half years is likely in the correct range. Experts generally agree that household costs have increased since January 2021, although the precise number differs depending on the specific metrics used.
Comparing price increases under Trump and Biden
The Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee told CBS News they did not do a similar analysis of how household costs changed under Trump’s administration.
Government data shows prices also grew under Trump, but by much less. The Consumer Price Index for all items increased by around 8% over Trump’s four years in office. By comparison, the total increase in consumer prices thus far under Biden is around 20%.
Of course, the two faced markedly different economic circumstances during their time in the White House.
While Trump’s administration enjoyed low inflation and healthy job growth for much of his time in office, the pandemic leveled the economy toward the end of his term. Early in the Biden administration, inflation reached modern highs as the economy recovered from employment and global supply chain disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many other countries around the world also saw high inflation due to the pandemic — in some cases far higher than the U.S.
The Federal Reserve believes keeping inflation at a low, stable rate of around 2% year-over-year is best for a well functioning economy where people and businesses can plan financially. It’s typical for prices to grow throughout a presidential term. A reduction in prices, or deflation, is generally not thought of as desirable by economists, and price increases are considered a feature of a healthy economy.
How incomes have fared under Biden
Economists say price increases should be compared to income increases to fully understand how inflation is affecting people’s finances.
Mark Zandi of the independent Moody’s Analytics told CBS News that due to inflation, the median American household spent $905 more in August 2024 to purchase the same goods and services than they did in August 2021. However, the median household made $1,073 more in August 2024 than it did three years ago.
Cumulatively, the Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee told CBS News that their calculations show the average family earned $35,390 in additional wages and salaries between the start of Mr. Biden’s term and July 2024 — a figure that’s more than $7,000 greater than the total increase in household costs over that time period estimated by the committee’s Republicans.
As of last year, Americans’ incomes had rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census, in 2023, median household income rose a healthy 4%, to $80,610, on par with earnings in 2019 on an inflation-adjusted basis.
Another way to measure the financial health of Americans is to look at government data on real disposable personal income, which reflects after-tax income adjusted for inflation. This income figure includes not only wages and salaries but also income from investments and government subsidies.
Disposable personal income has been higher on average during Mr. Biden’s term than it was in December 2020, Trump’s last full month in office. According to Gary Burtless, an economist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, real disposable personal income per person has been above $49,407 — where it was in December 2020 — for 30 of the 43 months of Mr. Biden’s term so far.
“Given that Americans’ actual real incomes have increased over the course of the Biden administration, it’s a little hard to see the basis for claiming that ‘inflation under Biden has cost the typical U.S. family $28,000,'” Burtless said.
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