What Police Departments Can Learn from San Antonio
People with the most complex behavioral health needs often cycle through jails, emergency rooms, and even psychiatric facilities without receiving the consistent and long-term care and support that they need.
In San Antonio, Texas, the Program for Intensive Care Coordination (PICC) was created to better serve the 5% of people who account for 25% of behavioral health care. PICC brings together health care, behavioral health, emergency medical services (EMS), law enforcement, and community partners to reduce strain on emergency systems while ensuring people receive the right response during a crisis and coordinated, ongoing care.
In this new video interview, the CSG Justice Center’s Ernest Stevens, from the award-winning HBO documentary “Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops,” sat down to discuss
- How San Antonio built the Program for Intensive Care Coordination;
- Why cross-system collaboration and appropriate alternatives to arrest are critical; and
- What other communities can learn from creating a coordinated system of care.
He was joined by Dr. Jason Miller, chief medical officer, and Andrew Estrada, a retired assistant fire chief for San Antonio and the VP of crisis response services for the Center for Health Care Services.
“San Antonio took the approach of getting everyone together and saying, ‘How do we approach this?’ We’re clearly not meeting their needs. There must be something we can do better for these people, not because giving them care is a bad thing, but giving them the right care is way more important,” said Dr. Miller.
Watch or listen to the full conversation below:
Other Interviews in This Series
Applications are due Friday, July 31, 2026.
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