"Officers have to handle 200,000 mental health calls a year. That is not a system that is working. Today marks the end of it. We are going to find out what it looks like when someone is willing to invest, not just financially, but also politically in this method of response."
"Backers of Mamdani's plan say police often escalate confrontations with people in emotional distress, who would be better served by trained mental health professionals. The mayor has cited the recent police shooting of a Queens man, Jabez Chakraborty, whose family called 911 because he was acting erratically, as an example of an encounter that highlights the need for alternative response methods."
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani launched a new office dedicated to community safety to address his campaign pledge of reducing police response to mental health emergencies. While his original vision included a $1 billion-per-year agency dispatching civilian workers, the initial implementation is modest, beginning with only two staff members. The administration plans to expand funding and support for B-HEARD, an existing program that dispatches mental health workers to 911 calls for people in emotional distress. Started in 2021, B-HEARD has struggled due to insufficient funding and support. Mamdani emphasized that police currently handle 200,000 mental health calls annually, indicating a system requiring reform. Advocates argue that trained mental health professionals better serve people in emotional distress than police, who may escalate confrontations.
#mental-health-crisis-response #police-reform #community-safety #b-heard-program #emergency-services
Read at AP News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]