OPs ideas are pretty fucked up, but I do think that there is a small kernel of a good idea hidden in there

People probably should be getting mental health screenings with some regularity. You (hopefully are able to) go to your regular doctor, dentist, etc. for a checkup regularly, even if nothing in particular is bothering you just to make sure you’re healthy and catch any issues before they become a problem, I think we should probably be treating mental health similarly.

It would probably also help to dispell some of the stigma around it, it’s less weird and embarrassing to go get treatment if everyone else is also going to see a therapist at least once a year or so.

And it is an issue that a lot of people with mental health issues won’t seek treatment unless they’re forced to. I work in 911 dispatch, I get a lot of calls from and about people with mental health issues. Unless they’re presenting an immediate danger to themselves or others, there’s not really much that can be done to make them get help.

I feel like there needs to be some kind of a middle ground between a full involuntary commitment and just handing them some pamphlets about what resources are available to them and hope they follow through on it themselves, because that’s basically the two options available now.

As for what that middle ground looks like, your guess is as good as mine. If you figure out a workable, humane solution, I’m sure a lot of emergency service agencies would really love to hear about it.

Some examples off the top of my head.

We have one guy we get calls about pretty frequently who just kind of walks around town all day screaming at the top of his lungs. Not a danger, can’t get him committed, but also a huge nuisance for people who live and work around there as well.

We had an old lady who called dozens of times a night having delusions that her neighbors were trying to break through the walls into her home. She never really bothered anyone else, but she was tying up our lines, which could mean delays for other people having an emergency. Again, not a danger, not malicious, genuinely believed she was having an emergency, so we couldn’t even go after her for misusing 911 (not that locking her in jail over this would have been an acceptable solution either) so we just kind of had to live with her until she either died or her family finally put her in a home or something.

These are people who probably shouldn’t just be out on their own living in normal society. Maybe they need an aide to live with them or some kind of a group home situation, maybe they just need someone to check in a couple times a day to make sure they’re taking medications, maybe they do need to be taken to some sort of facility where they can just live their lives separate from society and have their needs provided for them.

At the milder end, we have people who just really need to learn some coping mechanisms, they’re overall capable of taking care of themselves, holding down a job, etc. but just cannot hold themselves together when anything goes wrong. They become an absolute blubbering mess because they saw a deer that was hit by a car, or the traffic light is stuck on red, or someone was a little mean to them, and they just sort of need to have a sit-down with some elementary school guidance counselors to learn how to take a deep breath, count to 10, and collect themselves when these things happen.

Or all kinds of dysfunctional families and domestic situations where we have police out at the same house every damn day because they just can’t coexist without something devolving into a screaming match. They have jobs, a house, food on the table but the people involved really need to get some kind of family counseling. (I sometimes think we need a sort of “death penalty” for relationships, where after a certain point police can decide “no, you two are no longer married/dating. You need to get separate homes and never have any contact with each other again.” There’s no good way that can ever be done of course, but it’s something I kind of fantasize about after I’ve taken about the hundredth call for a domestic at the same address)

There’s no easy solution to all of this, and certainly not OP’s. But it is a real issue with no particularly good solution. And of course the logistics of making whatever those solutions actually happen are mind-boggling.