. >> reporter: major vincent beasley is in charge of the memphis c.i.t. program. he patrolled the streets as a c.i.t. officer for eight years. are all officers cut out to do this kind of work? >> i don't think so. i really think it takes a special person to do that. not everybody's cut out for that because you have to have patience, and you... and you have to really care about people. and you have to understand that it's not the individual himself. it's something that's going on. it's something, you know, in his brain that's not working properly. it's a chemical imbalance. >> reporter: c.i.t. is having a measurable impact. major beasley says of the 14,000 911 calls last year that c.i.t. officers responded to, only 19 encounters resulted in injuries to a person with mental illness. and the vast majority ended without a person being detained. around 4,400 were taken to mental treatment facilities, and just over 600 were taken to jail. >> so, we're not taking nearly as many people to penal facilities that are... that are suffering from mental illnesses because we rea