Saturday marks the three-month anniversary of the tragic incident where 46-year-old Melissa Perez lost her life in a fatal encounter with San Antonio police officers. To address the mental health crisis and improve crisis response, the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) has decided to expand mental health unit.
Assistant Chief Karen Falks of SAPD emphasized the need for additional staff and resources, explaining, “Once we’re able to build this team over 24 hours, we’ll have more officers to cover the city.”
With the recent approval of the City Council’s $3.7 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2024, the allocation includes provisions for expanding the San Antonio Community Outreach and Resiliency Effort (SA CORE), allowing it to operate around the clock.
Expand Mental Health Unit To Tackle The Ongoing Mental Health Crisis
SA CORE consists of a specialized team comprising a trained police officer, an SAFD paramedic, and a licensed mental health clinician, all equipped to respond to mental health crises. Currently, the team operates in two shifts, covering the hours from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
SAPD’s long-term plan involves enhancing its Mental Health Unit, but the department is also focused on training all its officers to effectively respond to mental health-related situations. This comprehensive training program is expected to take three years to implement fully.
Devin Metshin, a suicide prevention trainer affiliated with LivingWorks’ ASIST program, underscored the importance of community involvement in de-escalation and crisis response.
Metshin suggested that by educating individuals and families on these critical skills, they could help mitigate the strain on crisis response services and contribute to improved outcomes during mental health crises.
“We can help triage so that we’re not over-inundating the system so that we’re not just relying on those services that are dying for manpower,” Metshin said. “The more people we can teach to engage in those conversations, the more care we’re actually spreading across the community.”
Despite the ongoing discussions surrounding mental health within the City Council and SAPD budget allocations, Assistant Chief Falks emphasized that more efforts are needed to address the complex challenges associated with mental health crisis response.
