Police officers are often the first point of contact when someone is in a mental health crisis—and the volume of these calls continues to grow. Some studies estimate that up to a third of all calls to law enforcement are mental health-related. These situations unfold quickly, often in homes, schools, parking lots, or other public spaces where conditions are unpredictable and high-risk.

As call volumes rise, more agencies are redirecting certain mental health calls to behavioral health teams or co-responder units. But even with that shift, the need for shared training and coordinated response remains critical. When a clinician arrives first and a situation escalates, how are use-of-force decisions managed? How are transitions handled between civilian and sworn responders?

No matter which agency answers the call, mental health response training is a shared responsibility. Basic awareness and standard de-escalation training aren’t enough. Officers and responders need practical, scenario-based preparation that holds up under pressure. They need time to rehearse, debrief, and refine their responses in a realistic environment before applying them in the field.

This is where tools like MILO’s scenario-based crisis intervention training makes an impact: by helping departments train for complexity and align strategies across siloed teams in the community.

 

What Crisis Response Requires

Calls involving mental health come with distinct challenges. Communication may be delivered clearly but misunderstood, misinterpreted, or missed entirely. Behavior can escalate suddenly, without warning or obvious cause. What appears to be resistance may actually be fear, disorientation, or confusion. Officers need the ability to recognize behavioral cues and apply de-escalation techniques under pressure—without losing control of the scene.

MILO’s specialized scenarios designed for crisis intervention are designed to help officers build skills through immersion in realistic simulation. Each system comes with high-definition video scenarios with branching outcomes based on the officer’s decisions, some continuing indefinitely to keep the responder fully engaged for as long as it takes. Every interaction calls for communication, observation, and adaptation in real time.

Instructors have the ability to pause scenarios, review decisions, pull guidance from the embedded knowledge base, and replay critical moments with the trainee-action-capture camera. This flexibility supports focused instruction and reflection, allowing officers to refine and revisit their responses without the risk of real-world consequences.

Scenarios span a range of mental health situations, including suicidal ideation, delusions, trauma responses, and co-occurring substance use. Locations vary, including college campuses, where public safety often requires a response to students in crisis. Specialized scenarios also include veteran-specific crises, such as post-traumatic stress episodes and difficulty with reintegration. Officers can practice how to approach veterans with respect, patience, and situational awareness—reducing risk while improving outcomes.

Each scenario is developed in partnership with clinicians, subject matter experts in mental health, veteran services, and law enforcement to reflect the complexity of what officers face in the field. MILO’s cognitive advisory board ensures content is grounded in real policy, current research, and lived experience for effective and evidence-based training.

 

Supporting Officers and the Public

Agencies that integrate mental health training into simulation report stronger field performance, fewer use-of-force incidents, and improved officer confidence. A 2017 study published in European Psychiatry found that simulation-based mental health training significantly improved officers’ confidence, psychiatric knowledge, and human factors skills when managing crisis situations.

When training aligns with real-world demands, officers walk into each call with a clearer sense of what to look for, how to interpret behavior, and how to respond. Every call involving mental health requires clear thinking, communication skills, and tactical awareness. MILO supports that preparation with simulation tools designed to help officers improve judgment, build confidence, and learn through experience.

To explore how your agency can use MILO for mental health response training, or to get a free content update including the latest mental health scenarios, contact us at info@milorange.com