Americans have spent years arguing about how police, paramedics, and other emergency personnel respond when dispatched to help people in crisis. But UChicago researcher Rebecca Neusteter says that conversation overlooks an important part of our public safety system: the 9-1-1 call center.

She says too often, emergency call centers default to sending police, when a different type of response would be more appropriate. Neusteter's new book is called, “911, What’s Your Emergency? The Promise and Peril of Crisis Response.”