Read on Twitter
New: @NYCMayor/ @NYCFirstLady announce the city to launch a pilot program early in 2021 where "EMS mental health teams" will respond to 911 calls for mental health emergencies. Teams will consist of EMS health professionals & mental health crisis workers, not NYPD officers.
Pilot will start in "two high-need communities." Announcement is a response to a long-running push to remove NYPD from mental health crisis response. De Blasio, & McCray, given she is the appointed mental health czar for the de Blasio admin, have been very slow to move on this.
Recent op-ed on the subject via @ccitnyc @NYLPI @SenatorParker: New York Must Replace Police as Responders to People in Mental Health Crisis https://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/130-opinion/9783-new-york-replace-police-responders-people-mental-health-crisis
And a lot of background & context here:
‘Nobody Should Enter the Criminal Justice System for Something Related to Mental Illness’ https://www.gothamgazette.com/state/8705-new-york-criminal-justice-system-mental-illness-thrive-nyc
‘Nobody Should Enter the Criminal Justice System for Something Related to Mental Illness’ https://www.gothamgazette.com/state/8705-new-york-criminal-justice-system-mental-illness-thrive-nyc
Unless I missed it, McCray did not name the two high-need neighborhoods where the new pilot will start in February.
McCray tells @katie_honan that the 2 neighborhoods have not been identified yet, but a process is going to unfold to determine which 2 get the program, based on high numbers of 911 calls for mental health crises & other factors.
McCray: if there's report of a weapon or violent behavior then NYPD will also be dispatched, but mental health pros will have the lead in all relevant situations.
