. >> reporter: meet patron joe and ernie stevens. they respond to emotionally disturbed persons anywhere in the city. >> i promise you i'm not like any police officer that you've probably ever met. >> reporter: today it's a young woman who called 911 contemplating suicide. >> have you ever attempted suicide in the past? >> no. i don't even know how to do it. >> you don't have a plan right now? >> no. >> reporter: these officers are experts in what's called crisis intervention training. >> would you say that you really don't want to die but you want the pain to stop? >> yeah. >> okay, okay. >> i don't want to leave my kid. >> are you willing to get some >> yeah. >> reporter: this woman agrees to get help. it's all part of a pioneering program where the mentally ill are diverted out of jails and into treatment. how is your approach different from the average cop, if you will? >> we're in plain clothes, unmarked car. we walk in, it's not i'm officer morrow, officer stevens. i'm joe, this is ernie. >> reporter: 15% to 20% of law enforcem

stevens. i'm joe, this is ernie. we're hereeo help you. >> reporter: 15% to 20% of law enforcement agencies in the country have crisis intervention training programs. >> suicide, do you kfow if she's taken an overdose? >> reporter: ernie stevens says he helped start the one here in san antonio. >> that was the call i hated most. there's an individual at this house that has schizophrenia, th's hearing voices, he's talking about suicide. >> repter: all that changed, officer stevens says, after he reluctantly attended a week-long crisis intervention training class and met a woman with a schizophrenic son. >> she said, one day one of you offifirs will have to come to me house and you might have to shoot and kill my son. i want you to know that's okay because i want you to go home safe to your family. we made a pact, askedhe chief to start a mental health unit to help family members like her. survey by the police executive research forum, new recruits typically spend 60 hours learning who handle a gun, only eight hours le