Mental health is such a multi-faceted issue. I'm not sure if apps or anything like that will solve any problems. You're asking First Responders, who already go through training ad-nauseam, to go through more training. In the academy, police officers ARE trained to deal with mentally unstable people. I grew up in a law enforcement home, have a family of cops, know lots more as friends, worked for a SHORT period as a deputy in MI. I agree 100% that law enforcement policies need to be overhauled; carting people with mental health issues to jail isn't the solution, but the quality of police candidates seems to only be getting lower. But still, it's not an easy job. The problem is trying to differentiate someone who is having a mental breakdown from someone who is hopped up on Meth, and that's not always easy.
Have you ever had to deal with a combative person? Who has no idea where they are or who they are? Who thinks you're trying to kill them instead of help them? I have, and I promise you, it's no fun.
The real issue is that the mental health system is over-burdened. Me personally, I turned to psychedelics, because the VA's own mental health system is so inundated with Veterans. I'm writing about my experience with Psilocybin and how transformative they are. (If interested, check out my page). It's helped ease most symptoms of my PTSD (family/combat related). Plenty of studies have shown their effectiveness when used in a safe, guided environment. One dose of Psilocybin with such a session leap-frogs years of therapy. You're digging to the root of the problem, where most applications today are only putting a band-aid on it. Anyway, thanks for this write-up, great read!