Collaborative action by the San Antonio Police Department (SAPD) Mental Health Detail, Bexar County Justice Center, Bexar County Sheriff’s Office and the Center for Health Care Services (Bexar County’s Local Mental Health Authority) have resulted in many successful operations to improve public safety through an enhanced commitment and responsiveness to individuals experiencing mental health crises. Jails are often filled with those people whose actions met the requisites for an offense, without any consideration for their mental condition. The process of channeling people experiencing mental crises into treatment rather than emergency rooms and jail cells began in earnest in 2003, but since that time specialized responses and skills of personal interaction and communication have been honed and the SAPD Mental Health Detail has liberated other officers so that they may continue their law enforcement mission while arranging an acceptable resolution for the mental health consumer.