A major change is coming to Baltimore’s 911 system. Non-violent mental health calls will now go to a crisis hotline.The goal is to help people who really don't need police and let officers focus on violent crime."Approximately 13,000 calls come into our 911 system each year for people in crisis," Mayor Brandon Scott said in a news conference Friday to discuss the program. Starting in early June, those types of calls will be diverted to this location. The program is in partnership with the Behavioral Health System Baltimore and Baltimore Crisis Response Inc. Trained professionals will either handle the situation over the phone or if needed, send a mobile crisis unit to the scene."The 911 diversion pilot aims to get the right outcome for callers whenever they dial 911. And I want to emphasize this is a small step to a larger system wide overhaul that must take place," Scott said. The consensus is many of the behavioral health related calls could have been safely resolved without police."Too often what we find is that police response to non-violent situations, encounters have resulted in unnecessary escalation and unjust deaths," U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, said a news conference Friday.Some 170 city 911 dispatchers are being trained to know when to send calls to the help line."We just go through like a scenario of questions to ask and based on the questions that were answered determines if we are going to send out police fire or medical, if not or are we going to transfer to behavioral crisis," said Tenea Reddick, the director of 911 operations."What individuals can expect when they are diverted to our line is, first of all, a compassionate listener, who is well trained and able to help that person with their difficulty," said Edgar Wiggins, executive director of Baltimore Crisis Response Inc.The program is aligned with the federal consent decree which requires a burden reduction on the city police department."We will be looking at different factors to determine what calls will be diverted to expanding that to kind of changing and adapting our approach," Deputy Mayor Sunny Schnitzer said. Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby released a statement about the pilot program, saying: "We are excited to see the launch of this 911 diversion pilot program. It sits at the core of our announcement to eliminate the prosecution of low-level offenses by providing data driven alternatives to address mental and behavioral health concerns."We are excited to continue to partner with Mayor Scott, and Commissioner Harrison as we reimagine policing and public safety. In his short tenure, the mayor has shown a commitment to reversing decades-old failed criminal justice system strategies by working with Commissioner Harrison to take law enforcement in an innovative direction. We applaud both of them, and all the staff who made today's launch possible, and stand ready and willing to continue to partner and help make this initiative a success."