The Alternative Mobile Services Association is an emerging group of professionals and peers with the purpose of researching, assessing, and identifying best practice models of mobile response services that support or are alternatives to traditional 911 emergency response, police services, and unnecessary hospitalization. Additionally, the association seeks to promote networking and cooperation among providers, jurisdictions and allied stakeholders interested in alternatives to conventional policing.
The Alternative Mobile Services Association supports street-level alternatives to police.
What are Alternative Mobile Services?
Alternative mobile services encompass a variety of responses to the immediate needs and crisis situations in the community. Mobile services can include street outreach vans that provide supplies and support to the homeless, mental health agencies that provide in-person mobile response to clients in suicidal crisis (either immediately or within 24 hours), police programs that pair a clinician with a police officer to respond to mental health related calls, and hospital-based outreach programs which provide services in their community. A mobile service is simply any service that works with high-needs populations and meets them where they’re at, in their own space, to get them the help they need in a moment of need or distress.
If you work for a municipality or a state, a college or university or research institute, or a non-profit organization, join AMSA as an organizational member. All staff associated with AMSA organizational members have access to the AMSA benefits, such as ~
- Access to monthly virtual AMSA Talks with expert speakers + Q&A
- Free access to the AMSA virtual conference – June 4 & 5, 2025
- National compendium of mobile medical crisis articles, research, and materials from partner agencies
- Information about private, state and federal funding sources
- Mutual and technical support from subject area and field experts
- Weekly online newsletter written for mobile crisis team providers and stakeholders
Individuals can join AMSA and receive the membership newsletter – AMSA Weekly.
Save The Date
AMSA partners with the Center for Innovations in Community Safety and The Policing Project to host the next conference – Advancing the Field of Alternative Response – June 3-5, 2025 in person at New York University School of Law and through AMSA online everywhere. Find more details here in upcoming issues.