Tulsa 911 Dispatch celebrates partnership with Family & Children's Services

Tulsa Mayor Monroe Nichols, Deputy Chief of Police Jonathan Brooks, City Councilors, Family & Children's Services, and other city leaders held a news conference Monday to celebrate the integration of mental health clinicians into the City's 911 Call Center.

Since February, the City and representatives from Family & Children’s Services’ Community Outreach Psychiatric Emergency Services (COPES) program have soft-launched mental health triage operations at 911. In March, they diverted more than 560 calls for Police, Fire, and EMSA.

As part of the integration, a clinician from Family and Children’s Services will be staffed at the City’s 911 Call Center 24/7 to serve as a counselor and mental health support aide as they help answer calls that are mental health-related and may not require a response by Police, Fire, or EMSA.

This integration does not take the place of COPES itself, which Tulsans can reach when they call (918) 744-4800. It also does not take the place of 988, the Suicide and Crises Hotline.

The Tulsa Police Department has created a webpage detailing the total number of calls to 911, in addition to calls with mental health triage statistics. Statistics will be updated monthly.

To see more information about COPES, visit https://www.fcsok.org/copes-innovative-community-resource/