SAN ANTONIO – Last week, an escalated mental health call ended with multiple San Antonio police officers shot. SAPD Chief William McManus first mentioned the call last week in Stone Oak when seven officers were injured and again on Wednesday.
“There was a call for a suicide in progress with a gun,” McManus said at a community meeting on Wednesday. “Typically, when that happens, it’s an escalated mental health call.”
McManus said the initial call quickly evolved on Jan. 22 at the Sonterra Heights apartments off Stone Oak Parkway.
The suspect in the shooting, Brandon Poulos, was shot and killed by SAPD’s SWAT team after he barricaded himself in an apartment for hours.
KSAT has covered multiple stories on mental health response, but does that change in a crisis situation?
This was among the questions KSAT asked mental health advocates on Friday.
What classifies an escalated mental health call?
“An escalated mental health call would be when somebody indicates that they’re in imminent danger, either to themselves or to somebody around them,” Doug Beach, the executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Greater San Antonio, said.
Beach said dispatch centers look for verbalized danger signs and weapons as a sign of escalation.
How are escalated mental health calls handled?
Ernest Stevens, the deputy division director at the Council State Governments Justice Center and a former SAPD officer, said there are three ways mental health calls are dispatched:
- Mental health routine calls
- Mental health disturbance calls
- Mental health escalated calls
“Those escalated calls usually involve a little bit more of an acuity of dangerousness,” Stevens said. “They’re not going to send civilians into an escalated call. That’s a policy and a procedure that’s in place with the San Antonio Police Department to keep them safe.”
“Does (an elevated mental health call) change the negotiation tactics that SAPD and SWAT try to use?” KSAT asked Stevens.
“Well, it’s difficult to say,” Stevens said. “Every situation’s fluid and can turn dangerous very quickly...the officers that arrived that evening (in Stone Oak) took on gunfire and were injured, and at that point (for any escalated call), the supervisors immediately step in.”
Stevens said every mental health call is different, which makes every response different.
SAPD is “going to have to really look at this, debrief it and find out what can we learn from this moving forward to avoid this from happening again,” Stevens said.
Stevens also said he doesn’t want one incident to stigmatize mental health crisis response.
“I hope... people are able to see this as an isolated incident that we can learn from but still continue to offer good services to those in the community,” Stevens said.
How can people get help?
Beach said there are dozens of resources to help prevent escalated situations in San Antonio and Bexar County. He highlighted three phone numbers:
- 911: Crisis mental health number. If someone is in immediate danger or has suicidal ideations.
- 988: General mental health calls. State-by-state service that can be used as an outlet for mental health needs.
- NAMI Warm Line at (210)-939-9999. Beach said this number is intended to be a call for people who aren’t sure what they’re dealing with but know mental health is a factor.
The NAMI Warm Line is available from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week.
“Hopelessness is the No. 1 indicator,” Stevens said. “Suicide affects so many people ... There’s a balance that I think law enforcement needs to find with community members to determine what’s the best way to approach someone in crisis and be able to de-escalate and provide appropriate resources.”
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