Apparently, they usually bring police with them, and they are often called to the scene by police. Adding a trained counselor for deescalation sounds nice, but it may simply be an enhancement not an alternative. https://www.streetroots.org/news/2019/05/03/portland-mental-...
It's both. Dispatch calls it out and sometimes police show up, sometimes they don't. The main thing is the team is focused on solving the problem vs controlling people while ignoring their problem.
If people are a danger to themselves or others, the cops should be there, period. Sorry if that hurts their feelings but once a situation triggers calling for assistance it’s not just about them anymore.
There are multiple problems with that simplified model of conflict engagement. The most immediate one is that it encourages people to call nobody and just try to sort out the situation themselves, because the risk of a simple call for assistance ending in the death of a loved one is too high right now.