Austin to pilot three‑person multidisciplinary response team for high‑acuity mental‑health calls

The Public Safety Committee for the Austin City Council heard a briefing Sept. 22 on "Austin First," a six‑month pilot that will place a three‑person multidisciplinary team — a paramedic, a mental‑health clinician from Integral Care and an Austin Police Department officer — in a single vehicle to respond to high‑acuity mental‑health calls in a downtown cluster identified by city data.

City health and safety officials said the pilot is intended to reduce adverse events, increase de‑escalation opportunities and connect people in crisis to follow‑up care. "Our goal here is to develop a plan to deploy a team to minimize the risk of those adverse events across our community," said Dr. Mark Escoff, chief medical officer for the City of Austin, during the briefing.

The pilot team and rationale City staff described the new unit as complementary to existing crisis services that have focused on low‑ and moderate‑acuity responses (for example, C3 dispatch clinicians, the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team (MCOT), and community paramedics). Presenters said those programs have reduced arrests, emergency detentions and officer scene times since the Meadows Institute report in 2019 and subsequent changes. The new pilot targets a remaining gap: incidents where a person is in severe crisis and there is an elevated risk of harm or active agitation.

The team composition is a paramedic from Austin‑Travis County EMS (ATCEMS), a clinician from Integral Care (the local mental‑health authority) and an APD officer. Staff emphasized the team will not be the primary first‑responder in situations involving firearms; rather, the unit is designed for high‑acuity but non‑armored situations where a combined clinical/medical/peace‑officer response can reduce escalation.

Operations, timing and location Officials said they plan to launch the pilot in mid‑October, operating one unit Monday through Thursday from roughly 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for an initial six‑month period. The team will be dispatched by call takers when appropriate, and may also self‑initiate when teams encounter individuals who meet the high‑acuity description while patrolling. City presenters identified a downtown cluster (referred to in the briefing as the George Sector) as the highest‑concentration area for the calls the pilot will target.

Training and oversight Presenters said initial team training took place Sept. 4, 2025, with backups trained to cover absences; the Sept. 4 session included officers, ATCEMS personnel, Integral Care clinicians and supervisors. Training topics listed in the briefing included legal considerations (capacity and consent), updates from the recent legislative session on peace officer emergency detention (POED), agency policies for ATCEMS and APD, de‑escalation, trauma‑informed care, scene safety, sedation considerations and scenario‑based exercises. Additional training and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for dispatch decision‑making were scheduled through October.

Data collection and goals City staff said the pilot will track response times, scene times, staffing requirements, repeat interactions, dispositions and outcomes (including diversion from arrest or emergency room visits), injuries to personnel, and any adverse events. The group said they will conduct continuous quality improvement and present pilot results to council and city management after the six‑month period. "We will ... recommend a report back to council regarding recommendations for future expansion," Escoff said.

Community advisory group and follow up The briefing said a community advisory group will advise strategy and transparency; named members of the advisory group included Downtown Austin Community Court, Downtown Austin Alliance, the Homeless Strategy Office, the Salvation Army (noted in the briefing as the "Silvering Center" — presenters said this group will include people with lived experience), and other community stakeholders. Presenters said data integration remains a challenge — data currently sit in separate systems (Integral Care, APD and ATCEMS) — and the city hopes the pilot and improved data processes will allow better disaggregation and analysis.

Questions from council Committee members asked about typical day‑to‑day operations, how the team would identify high‑acuity calls, whether the pilot could be scaled to other areas or hours, and when consolidated outcome data would be available. Council members requested that the city continue to refine triage and dispatch procedures and to return with pilot results and improved data streams after the evaluation period. "This is a pilot ... and as we evolve over the coming months, we will continue to refine the individual strengths of the different organizations and see where those true synergies are," an Austin police chief present said during Q&A.

Why this matters Presenters framed the pilot as an attempt to close a gap in responses to mental‑health crises where clinical, medical and law‑enforcement perspectives are all needed at first contact. The city said the pilot is intended to reduce force and injuries, improve connections to outpatient care and reduce repeat emergency encounters.