San Antonio officials are considering a six-month pilot program that would allow police to divert some people accused of low-level offenses away from the Bexar County Jail and into mental health or substance use treatment as early as January.
The proposed 15-bed program would initially serve people accused of nonresidential criminal trespassing or theft under $100. Instead of being arrested and booked into jail, eligible participants could voluntarily enter treatment at an existing Center for Health Care Services facility at 711 E. Josephine St.
City Council’s Public Safety Committee unanimously agreed Monday to send the proposal and the city’s share of its funding to the full council for consideration, the latest step in a months-long city-county effort to develop a centralized diversion and recovery system.
The pilot would cost about $1.9 million to operate for six months, according to CHCS officials, who would operate the pilot. Officials have proposed splitting that cost evenly among San Antonio, Bexar County and University Health, with each contributing $638,370.
Under the proposal advanced Monday, San Antonio would use money from the Westside Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone to cover its share. Tax increment reinvestment zones, known as TIRZs, set aside property tax revenue generated by growth in property values within a designated area to fund projects intended to benefit that area.
The full City Council is expected to consider the city’s funding on Sept. 10.
How would the diversion pilot work?
The proposal would create a pre-arrest diversion option for police responding to certain low-level offenses involving people with mental health or substance abuse needs.
Researchers examined more than 31,000 misdemeanor arrests made by SAPD in 2025 that did not include an accompanying felony charge, including arrests for criminal trespassing, drug paraphernalia, low-level marijuana possession, theft and camping.
After discussions with stakeholders, including SAPD, the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office and the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, officials settled on nonresidential criminal trespassing and nonresidential theft under $100 as the test cases for the pilot.
From January through May, an average of about 140 people per month were arrested on criminal trespassing charges, according to BCSO data presented by CHCS. About 56% of those arrests — an average of 78 people per month — involved someone with an identified mental health or substance abuse need. The figures are broader than the proposed pilot’s eligibility requirements but were used by officials to illustrate the number of people potentially affected by diversion.
The pilot would initially operate within SAPD’s Central and Downtown substation response areas, where the two targeted offenses are most prevalent, said Interim Police Chief Jesse Salame.
When an officer encounters someone accused of nonresidential criminal trespassing or theft under $100, the officer would determine whether the person committed an eligible offense and offer diversion as an alternative to arrest. Participation would be voluntary.
If the person agrees, the officer would contact clinicians through the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council’s MedCom system. Clinicians would screen the person for mental health or substance use and determine whether they meet the treatment center’s requirements. If accepted, the person would be taken to the Josephine Street facility rather than the jail.
That distinction is central to the pilot. Unlike diversion programs that intervene after someone has already been arrested or entered the court system, the proposed program would attempt to connect participants with treatment before they are even booked into jail.
Officials say that could avoid hours spent taking someone through the jail intake process while getting people experiencing behavioral health or substance use problems into treatment sooner. Data analyzed by UTHealth Houston found that people arrested for criminal trespassing spent a median of about eight hours between arrest and booking in BCSO cases and about 12 hours in SAPD cases.
Once at the diversion center, participants would receive behavioral health treatment and other social services for an average of about 14 days, followed by up to 90 days of aftercare intended to connect them with longer-term services.
If someone declines treatment or does not meet the clinical requirements, they could instead proceed through the normal criminal justice process.
Officials are still working through how the pilot would handle people who repeatedly commit eligible offenses. The program would track repeat encounters to help determine whether limits or other changes are needed if the model continues.
“It doesn’t mean that it’s a get-out-of-jail-free card,” Salame said.
If approved and fully funded, officials said the 15 pilot beds could begin accepting participants around January.
A test for a permanent diversion center
The pilot’s initial boundaries could change as officials learn more about who could benefit from the program.
District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee-Rodriguez questioned why the pilot would initially be limited to the Central and Downtown police substation areas when the proposed treatment facility is in his district. He asked officials to examine whether nearby neighborhoods, including Government Hill, could be included.
Officials agreed to review arrest data from those areas but cautioned that expanding the pilot would have to account for the limited number of beds available.
Council members also raised questions about how success would be measured and how repeat participants would be handled, details officials said would be worked out as the pilot is developed.
Those questions are part of what officials hope to answer before determining what a permanent diversion system should look like.
The pilot would run alongside a broader feasibility study being conducted by CHCS and the UTHealth Houston School of Public Health. The study is examining what services a permanent diversion center should provide, how many beds and staff it would need and how it could be sustainably funded. Recommendations are expected in early 2027.
Alexander Testa, the UTHealth Houston researcher leading the study, said he has interviewed 35 local stakeholders and spoken with operators of diversion centers in Harris, Tarrant, Dallas and Travis counties. He said those conversations have reinforced the value of testing the concept while the longer-term planning continues.
“You’ll never really understand how your diversion center works and the best practices until you start piloting it,” Testa said.
City Council is expected to receive a briefing on the proposal during SAPD’s budget discussion on Sept. 8 before considering the city’s proposed $638,370 contribution on Sept. 10.
