After a call for police assistance with a mentally ill man at a Tucson gas station turned deadly, resulting in the deaths of the responding sheriff’s deputy, the man, and a cab driver who stopped to assist, local leaders began work in 2005 on a better way to respond to people in crisis.
It was a multiyear endeavor. Local voters passed a $15 million bond to fund the construction of Tucson’s new 24/7 crisis center where individuals could get immediate behavioral health care. An entire remapping of how officers would respond was designed to de-escalate encounters with individuals in crisis. Instead of taking mentally ill individuals to jail or hospital emergency rooms, officers could bring them to the new crisis center, where staffers would quickly work on a patient’s diagnosis and treatment. Law enforcement officials served on the crisis center's board and helped lead its design.
