WACO, Texas (KWTX) - Two years after its launch, a 911 crisis call program is proving to be a success.

The Waco Police Department’s 911 Crisis Call Diversion program integrates behavioral health specialists into the 911 dispatch center to screen and respond to mental health calls.

In 2023, Waco police partnered with the Texas Behavioral Health Network to start the program using grant funding. The goal was to find a solution to the amount of mental-health calls dispatchers received daily.

In McLennan County alone, 78 percent of all 911 calls are mental-health related.

Suzie Murray, the emergency communications manager with Waco police, said that goal has been met. Dispatchers can transfer those calls to trained clinicians, shortening the amount of time it takes to serve those individual

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