Hennepin County’s Alternative Response Team Project: A Collaboration Between Healthcare and Law Enforcement is Making a Positive Impact on Mental Health Calls

The Alternative Response Team project, which involves social workers and paramedics responding to mental health calls in the community, has been a significant success. Inspector Elliot Faust of the Hennepin County Police Department stated that getting the program up and running has been a challenging task, but they are seeing positive outcomes from it. The data collected so far indicates that the program is making a real impact.

The new model allows Hennepin County social workers and North Memorial Health paramedics to respond to these calls either with or instead of police officers. This partnership between healthcare and law enforcement officials was announced a year ago, and the program was initially set to end on December 31, 2024. However, the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners recently extended the timeline through the end of 2026.

Faust expressed enthusiasm about the extension and highlighted the decrease in mental health calls received by the police department for the first time in years. After a steady increase in mental health calls over the past five years, there was a drop from 1,291 calls in 2022 to 1,096 calls in 2023. Faust acknowledged that it is too early to establish a direct causal link, but there is definitely a correlation between the work of the Alternative Response Team and the decline in calls.

Looking ahead, Faust hopes to expand the unit’s operating hours beyond regular business hours to accommodate the high demand for their services. He emphasized