KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri lawmaker is under criminal investigation for "testing" the state's suicide hotline.
According to an incident report from the Jefferson City Police Department, State Rep. Tricia Byrnes (R - 63rd District, Wentzville) texted the 988 crisis hotline and claimed she had a gun to her head.
Byrnes has not replied to a request for interview from KSHB 41 News on the criminal investigation.
The original message, placed on Feb. 20, was transferred to St. Louis Police dispatch.
St. Louis Police pinged the phone. Three agencies in total, including Capitol Police in Jefferson City, began searching for the caller.
The text was first reported to St. Louis dispatch at 11:12 a.m.
According to the report, it took 17 minutes for law enforcement to learn the text was placed by Byrnes who admitted she sent the message to "test the durability of the 988 system."
An operator told Byrnes a lot of resources were dedicated to her text message, at which point Byrnes apologized.
The operator told Byrnes police would meet her on the Missouri House floor where Byrnes placed the text from.
A Jefferson City Police officer documented that he spoke with Byrnes who said she was "proving how ineffective the 988 system is."
According to the police officer, he said he corrected Byrnes "on what notifications occurred and the amount of resources that responded to this, which turned out to only be a false report for her experiment."
Byrnes did not respond to a request for an interview with KSHB, but in a press release on Monday - prior to the investigation - said she was deeply concerned about her test.
"I initiated this test to see how well the system responds to individuals in crisis," Byrnes said in the release. "What I found was nothing short of a catastrophic failure. The responses I received were cold, robotic and appeared to come from AI chatbots rather than trained crisis counselors."
"This is unacceptable," she continued. "If someone in immediate distress were to reach out expecting real help, they might not get it - and that could cost lives."
Byrnes recently introduced HB 1148. The bill outlines additional provisions in the state's mental health laws.
"Missourians deserve a crisis response system that is reliable, compassionate and effective," Byrnes said. "When someone reaches out in their darkest moment, they should be met with real help - not generic, automated messages. HB 1148 is a necessary step toward fixing this broken system and saving lives."
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