SXSW FILM REVIEW: ‘Ernie & Joe’ Should Change the Conversation on Modern Police Work

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There is a mental health crisis in America today. Cuts to funding meant to help those suffering from debilitating disorders has become en vogue over the last few decades, an access is at record lows. It’s an unfortunate, reprehensible reality we have to face in our society, and it too often puts people in danger.

Often, that unfortunate reality leads to confrontations with police officers. The dangers associated with these confrontations are apparent. It’s dangerous to police, to bystanders, and to those suffering from mental illness. More and more often we see images of those suffering from mental health issues laying dead in the streets following confrontations with police.

This storm of issues has created dangerous animosity between police forces across the nation and the people their meant to serve and protect. How does one serve and protect a population who fears for their death? How do we begin to address the lack of access to mental health services that, ultimately, is at the root of these problems?

Ernie & Joe, a new documentary which premiered at SXSW this week, takes a long look at these issues through the lens of two officers in the San Antonio Police Department. Director Jenifer McShane takes us deep inside the lives of her subjects, two members of a mental health task force in San Antonio, as they attempt to begin addressing the issues that make life so dangerous for the mentally ill and themselves. Using a verité approach, McShane shows us the intimate complexities of the issues and how two men have dedicated their lives to making a difference.

The titular subjects of Ernie & Joe are almost single handedly changing how cops approach emergencies involving mental health. We’re used to seeing depictions of police as hardened badasses with a take no shit attitude and gruff approach. Looking at Ernie and Joe, you might expect to see similar. Instead, we see two men who approach all situations with openness and compassion, choosing to open up to those in need and get them help to divert them from prison.

Prison diversion might seem antithetical to modern police work, and to a certain extent it is. But the problems of mental health have led to increasingly overcrowded conditions in jails and prisons and have created undo financial burdens on states and localities. Combatting this is no doubt a complex request, but in their work Ernie and Joe seek outcomes that are best for all parties. We watch as they talk a suicidal woman off a bridge or as they convince a dangerously irate veteran to get help or as they talk an admittedly homicidal and suicidal man into coming with them to counseling.

Throughout it all, we bear witness at the kind of compassion that’s sorely needed across the law enforcement spectrum, a compassion that allows for protection and service of all people with all needs. What’s so different about them is their willingness to admit their fears and worries not just to themselves or their fellow officers, but to the subjects in need. Theirs is a policing built on communication and trust, and has the possibility of affecting all of police work in America today.

Ernie & Joe is a shockingly emotional and human look at a new kind of police force that shows us exactly what too many forces have been lacking for the last few decades. It’s also a fascinating look at what they call the future of police work and the harrowing effects of mental illness. McShane has constructed a beautiful documentary that shows the kind of world we could be living in with the kind of police we deserve.

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