NYPD Will Respond To Fewer 911 Mental Health Calls In New Program

NEW YORK CITY — Future 911 calls about mental health crises could bring teams of health professionals instead of NYPD cops to the doors of New Yorkers in need.

A pilot program soon will start in two as-yet-undetermined neighborhoods to see if the responsibility for dealing with nonviolent mental health crises can be shifted away from the police.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said starting in February new mental health teams will respond to 911 calls in those “priority neighborhoods.” He called it a fundamental change to the city’s approach to mental health emergencies.

“This is the first time in our history that health professionals will be the default responders to mental health emergencies,” said Chirlane McCray, the city’s First Lady and head of ThriveNYC, a city-run mental health initiative.

I thank everyone at @FDNY Emergency Medical Services, @NYCHealthSystem, @MentalHealthNYC, @nychealthy and @NYPDnews for their partnership as we bring this pilot to life. And all of the advocates and experts who have shared their ideas and helped inform this plan.
— Chirlane McCray (@NYCFirstLady) November 10, 2020

The new 911 “Mental Health Teams” will pair of health professionals and crisis workers from FDNY Emergency Medical Services.

They will replace the current configuration of mental responders — NYPD officers and FDNY Emergency Medical Services Emergency Medical Technicians — in two precincts, officials said.

The shift from a law enforcement response toward one that officials called “health-oriented” is a longstanding goal of police reformers. Advocates argued cops aren’t equipped to handle people having mental health crises — and one in five New Yorkers struggles with a mental health condition, officials said.

McCray said the vast majority of 170,000 mental health calls to 911 last year concerned “people who just needed help.”

“We do not want to make a bad situation worse for anyone,” she said.

The program is similar to another pilot planned last year, but tweaked so NYPD isn’t so central to the response. Susan Herman, director of the Mayor’s Office of ThriveNYC, said it will treat mental health crises as public health issues, rather than ones involving public safety.

“But the NYPD will be there when we know that it's an absolutely dangerous situation,” Herman said.

The pilot program announcement prompted a quick response from Oren Barzilay, president of FDNY EMS Local 2507. He said in a statement that his union is willing to discuss potential new mental health roles, but those must be paired with talks about safety, security and "fair compensation."

"The de Blasio Administration is now asking our members, some barely paid
above the minimum wage, to step into this even higher risk role, without physical protection," he said. "The physical and psychological safety of FDNY EMS responders must be the first priority, but the city must also do much more to be sure that our own members can access PTSD counseling, not currently available to them, and there is no further excuse for the poverty wages this
dedicated EMS workforce is forced to accept."