BEXAR COUNTY, Texas — When a 911 call comes in about a mental health crisis, the Bexar County Multidisciplinary Specialized Alternative Response Team, or SMART team, now sends more than an officer and an EMS worker to the scene.

“We have the clinician that is normally from the health care services center,” said Leticia Dominguez, behavioral health manager for Bexar County.

She says the team has one main goal, de-escalation.

“Really, what we were trying to avoid is prison,” Dominguez said.

However, sometimes they do respond more to some of the more horrific calls, like a year ago when officers responded to Melissa Perez. She suffered from schizophrenia and was allegedly having a mental health crisis when she was shot and killed.

“I think this team approach has saved lives,” Dominguez said.

And they’re going beyond the past hours they worked, Monday through Saturday, 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.

“Right now, this is a trend that’s going on across the country, you know these grassroots response teams, so we’re very fortunate that our county has been very progressive in leading this initiative,” Dominguez said.

But she says just because they’re focused on growth doesn’t mean they’ve forgotten the people they’ve helped.

“They can lead and guide people to get the care they need, or again, maybe if they’ve missed an appointment, help them reset that appointment,” Dominguez said.