The problem that is being worked on is how to unbundle law enforcement first responder risk for scenarios where the suspect is mentally ill. From existing historical data, people with untreated mental illness are up to 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter.
The specific scenario would be where a family member or other acquaintance has reported from a home that a mentally ill person a risk to other. The project has not implemented yet, but the number of people that could be protected could be significant. In terms of the statistics, one study on lethal force by law enforcement found:
"In 21.7% of fatalities, there was evidence that the victim’s mental/behavioral health, including behavior attributed to mental illness or substance use, was directly related to LE contact or use of force. Cases related to the victim’s mental/behavioral health were significantly more likely to occur in a home, less likely to be precipitated by an alleged crime, less likely to involve injuries to LE officers, less likely to involve civilians killed by the victim before or during the incident, and less likely to involve a black than white victim"...AMPA Journal, for data from 2009-2012.
