how could it trend differently? you would have to come up with an alternative to 911 generally, which is very very hard.

in terms of preserving 911 but improving outcomes, the strongest consensus among experts is that police need more specializations, much like healthcare.

ultimately i think these problems exist everywhere in the world, and communities where homeless interacting with citizens & police issues are acute, like in san francisco, are actually the future, not the past, for other communities. there is also a consensus around this - that whatever alternatives exist in most places, such as in asia, they are being replaced by systems that look like san francisco's. this is to say that there are many ideas but ideas that are not going to be enacted are not valuable, even if they are interesting to talk about, and once you get a sober look at what really does get enacted and why, the problem shifts from the specifics of mental health and policing interactions to politics and getting elected.