“Let’s stop being so afraid,” is one of the mantras two San Antonio policemen use to encapsulate their philosophy toward policing, where their most powerful weapons are words rather than guns.

An antidote to the ceaseless headlines about police brutality, the documentary Ernie & Joe: Crisis Cops goes a long way toward showing how a kinder, gentler police force can guide those who need help land in rehab rather than a jail cell.

The HBO documentary, awarded the Special Jury Prize at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival, is something of a serious buddy cop movie. Director Jenifer McShane (Mothers of Bedford) spotlights the work and personal lives of two San Antonio police officers, Ernie Stevens and Joe Smarro. The men, a decade or so apart in age, play off each other’s strengths, partnering to engage with a troubled community that many of their fellow officers confront with weapons.

Ernie and Joe are part of the San Antonio Police Department’s Mental Health Unit, a 10-person unit that began in the early 2000s to help relieve the city’s overcrowded jail system. The unit is part of an innovative collaboration between the city’s police and mental health services, which also help sponsor a 37-acre treatment center. This program appears to be an overwhelming success: The Atlantic reported that as of 2016, the unit’s work kept 100,000 people away from jail and ERs.

Dressed in plain clothes and driving unmarked cars, Ernie and Joe respond to “mental health” related calls, often involving life-threatening situations. One such call concerns Jessica, a self-described suicidal crack addict, who, in the middle of the night, threatens to jump off the city’s Jones Maltsberger Bridge. “I’m broken,” she cries as the policemen, who frequently sit down rather than tower over citizens, use talk therapy to coax her off the ledge and deliver her to a treatment center. As the film progresses, we see the policemen periodically checking in on her to gauge her sometimes bumpy road to recovery.

Ernie & Joe follows a conventional documentary structure. Still, the nature of the story keeps viewers engaged and wondering if any of the 911 calls Ernie and Joe respond to will go wrong despite their best efforts.

All who join the San Antonio force are required to enroll in weeklong Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) to learn about mental illness. Ernie and mainly Joe take the empathetic approach the training espouses: admit being vulnerable and realize that many they encounter aren’t criminals as much as in crisis. This is something that Joe, a former Marine, and survivor of child physical and sexual abuse who also suffers from PTSD, can relate to. Indeed, he often shares his own traumatic experiences with those he is called to assist.

While the inspiration that Ernie and Joe dole out to fellow first responders and the community fuels the film, McShane also shows us the other side, providing a window into the world of those who are often dismissed as “crazy.” Having a bad day – as Ernie often describes the somewhat dire situations they encounter – doesn’t have to mean a life sentence, if only someone is there to listen.

Ernie and Joe do just that.

ERNIE & JOE: CRISIS COPS (2019)

Starring: Ernie Stevens, Joe Smarro 

Directed by: Jenifer McShane

Distributed by HBO Documentary Films. 96 minutes.

Opening this Friday in select theaters. Premieres on HBO Tuesday, November 19th.