San Antonio families navigating mental health crises may encounter different parts of the public-safety and health-care systems, depending on the nature of the call and which responders are available.
A central question is why some San Antonio families in crisis encounter regular patrol officers instead of the city’s specialized mental health teams. According to KSAT, patrol officers handled most mental health-related 911 calls made in San Antonio last year.
The investigation describes how mental health crises can lead to police involvement, arrest and jail rather than treatment.
Why Specialized Teams Aren’t Always Sent
San Antonio’s SA CORE program pairs a police officer, a fire department paramedic and a licensed clinician for behavioral health calls. In fiscal year 2025, the multidisciplinary teams logged 5,567 responses citywide and made one arrest, according to city public safety data reported by the San Antonio Report. The contrast raises a practical policy question: which calls qualify for a specialized response, and what happens when one is unavailable?…