SAN ANTONIO — Starting Monday, mental health response teams in San Antonio will operate 24/7.
The mental health response teams are made up of a police officer, a paramedic, and a clinician. Known as SA-Core, they respond to all non-violent mental health calls in the city.
"So you've got a combo response that will deal with someone who's in crisis," said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus. "You've got everyone there who is trained to deal with that situation in those situations."
Before the program began, patrol officers alone were the first to respond.
"It does relieve patrol officers from having to respond to mental health calls, which, again, is not something that we necessarily want to or should be doing," Chief McManus said.
The program started in 2022 with just one team. From April to December 2022, 56 percent of the people who SA-Core responded to started services with the Center for Health Care Services (CHCS).
"Without this program, with the compassionate and comprehensive response team, and then the thorough follow-up of clinicians, these individuals could’ve easily fallen through the cracks in the system," said Jessie Higgins, Chief Mental Health Officer for Metro Health.
This year SA-Core added two more teams for city-wide coverage. From January through April, they've responded to 1,224 calls and have made only two arrests.
"The objectives of this program are to first of all respond to 911 mental health calls to assist people experiencing a behavioral health crisis using the least restrictive approach," Higgins said. "Across all three teams, the majority of the calls are resolved on scene, taken to a hospital by emergency detention, or transported to address another need."
In August, Metro Health will be able to compare effectiveness through the percentage of calls they'll be able to respond to with new overnight coverage.