A Missouri legislator is under criminal investigation after texting the state’s 988 suicide hotline that she had a gun to her head in what she called a test of a flawed system. Rep. Tricia Byrnes, a Wentzville Republican, told the Kansas City Star she sent the series of texts to the hotline last week while she pursues legislation to change how the system responds to people in crisis. She wanted to expose the cold, automated responses people receive, she said. The nature of the text messages prompted a flurry of calls from Jefferson City and St. Louis police and have prompted an investigation by Missouri Capitol police. The Jefferson City Police Department said that law enforcement used “a lot of resources” to respond to her texts, “which turned out to only be a false report for her experiment.”
The national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is used in state for people experiencing mental health, substance use and suicide crises. Byrnes provided copies of the text messages she sent to the hotline. In her first message, she wrote: “I’m really sad and have no hope to live.” In response, Byrnes received a series of automated prompts, including a link to a survey. After responding to those messages, Byrnes sent a follow up: “I have a gun to my head.” In another text, Byrnes wrote, “I’m suicidal with a gun to my head.” Police pinged the texter’s phone, which showed that the text came from the state Capitol building. Dispatchers were able to get Byrnes on the phone, She told police she was doing a test of the dependability of the 988 system. Byrnes has proposed legislation would require crisis counselors to ask a set of questions at the start of every 988 text or call. The goal, according to Byrnes, is to ensure human responses instead of automated scripts.