When I was a firefighter, I read that FD's in the 70's and 80's were facing budget cuts because there was less fire (building codes and safety campaigns).

So, they diversified by adding EMS into their role. And they went all in. They saw a need, saw they could solve it.

And it worked. Pre-hospital medicine tactics advanced incredibly and deaths went down.

This was a huge shift in firefighting. There were now specialty roles. They then expanded into SAR and HazMat. They found problems and became the solution to remain relevant to the times.

Anyway, we still don't have proper mental health services and here is a bunch of police depts that are facing budget cuts.

So, yeah. It can be done.