These two radio stories aired just after the Ferguson shooting and the 2nd one aired the same day a St. Louis police officer shot and killed a clearly mentally ill black man just a few miles from Ferguson. Jenny Gold’s stories provide a sharp contrast, especially for police dealing with mentally ill people who commit crimes. While Texas ranks 49th out of 50 states in how much per-capita funding it commits to mental health, San Antonio police, hospitals, jails and county officials have worked together to build a mental health system considered a model for other cities across the country. The effort has focused on an idea called “smart justice” — basically, diverting people with serious mental illness out of jail and into treatment. And it has saved $50 million over the past five years. It was a tough struggle to get there, but now San Antonio is emerging as a shining example for other cities to follow (see results, below).
