SAN ANTONIO — The need was critical: No power. No water. No food. San Antonio Police couldn't restore electricity, but they gave community members a charge of hope.
"It takes something like that to make you realize how good you have it—and then, how well you can actually work together," Officer Julissa Bryant said.
Bryant and fellow Officer Eloy Medina are members of the department's San Antonio Fear Free Environment Unit, or SAFFE for short. The officers worked hard to live up to every letter of that acronym in February during the historic winter storm, which is estimated to have killed more than 200 in Texas.
For the first time, the officers and SAPD Sgt. Michael Ross spoke about the department's icy opposition in February.
Ross, a 27-year veteran, had taken on flooding and freezing conditions before in the Alamo City.
"We were able to put a bunch of officers in critical locations," Ross said.
The traffic division laid out a plan that seemingly expanded as roadways got shut down.
"We opened up a bunch of stuff. We kept a lot of stuff closed," Ross said. "We got a lot of people off the road that needed it. Got a lot of people home."
The officers said the roadways were as challenging for them too. Medina totaled his vehicle, but caught a ride with Bryant to get to work early.
"We actually had to abandon some police vehicles on bridges because we were closing off certain areas," Medina said. "Then, the police vehicles started sliding. So wherever they stopped, we left them and had other officers pick each other up."
Bryant and Medina said they borrowed shovels from the San Antonio Fire Department to keep part of I-410 and Culebra open for emergency responders.
Pictures from the winter storm show officers using commercial leaf blowers to melt the ice. Other methods, like using forklifts to break the ice and sand to make it passable, weren't as effective.
"We tried using flares to melt the ice," Bryant said.
Body camera video from the February crisis gives a deeper perspective of officers taking on duties beyond the scope of law enforcement.
"The officers all pushed cars. I pushed cars that were stuck," Ross said.
One elderly dialysis patient couldn't get to treatment on Feb. 18. Part of the footage shows one officer picking her up from home, ensuring she got in the facility safely and promising to take her back home after her three-to-four-hour treatment.
"Thank you for doing this. This is amazing," the woman can be heard saying.
The officer, sounding chipper, said, "Ready ma'am?" as he cranked up the heater, and they left.
The video shows that as soon as he walks his passenger inside the dialysis facility, another elderly patient waiting in the lobby for a ride home makes her request.
"You're taking me (home), right?" she asks.
The officer agrees. But the woman wants to make sure he is taking her from the Huebner Road location to her home near 1604 and Babcock.
He agrees.
"The San Antonio police officers – patrolmen, mostly – are out there doing the heavy lifting," Ross said. "I remember their effort. And I remember how we came together to get through."
According to Ross, the calls started pouring in for people who needed food and water. Officers were dispatched to the San Antonio Food Bank to deliver boxes to the hungry.
"Some of these people had been waiting," Bryant said. "Not being able to go to the grocery store, they were extremely grateful. A lot of them had young kids that were hungry."
In another body camera video, an officer takes large convenience cups of water to an apartment that didn't have any. He told the tenant it's all he could find.
"Ya'll need some water, man?" the officer asked.
The happy tenant took the water and complimentary hand warmers from the officer. The video shows the man had been out scrounging up H2O.
One of Medina's most memorable encounters was also caught on video as he drove around, making sure no motorist got stranded in the cold.
"I just happened to be going down the access road of 410," he said. "I see something...is that somebody pushing another individual on a wheelchair?"
He said it was two women braving the ice, snow and frigid weather to get food. The video shows the 10-year officer accommodating the freezing women.
"I'm not going to leave you out here. It's cold," Medina can be heard telling them.
Ross, nearby in his police cruiser, came to assist. He took the women to get the nourishment they sought.
"We try to be people, good stewards of the community and of what the police department stands for," Ross said.
Not caught on camera are the officers returning home to face power and water issues of their own after a grueling day in the cold weather.
"Our at-home lives, nothing was the same. And then coming to work and doing things that we've never done," Bryant said. "All of it was a challenge."
Many officers like Medina had to shower and change clothes at work. But the challenges led police to embrace the icy trials. The attention for their behind-the-scenes deeds? Not so much.
Bryant said they are mentally and emotionally ready if another winter storm hits the area again. Hopefully, they say, that won't happen anytime soon.