However, none of this is stemming the stream of 988 callers who receive unasked for, unwanted, or unexpected visits from police and emergency medical services (EMS)—and then get taken, with or without consent, to hospitals or crisis centers for mental health evaluations. Some report having been further subjected to forced stripping, solitary confinement, prolonged detentions, and even involuntary treatments.
Callers to 988 targeted by these practices describe feeling misled, betrayed, and ultimately battered by their experiences. And, contrary to 988 promoters’ promises of “getting police out of crisis care” and previous public assurances from SAMHSA and Vibrant about the low frequency of these police/EMS interventions, stunning new data show that the intervention rates have in fact skyrocketed—quadrupling in 988’s first year. And rates of police/EMS interventions on callers who discuss suicidal feelings appear to be even higher.