Q&A
B-HEARD program coverage and expansion plans
1:18:53
·
150 sec
Council Member Lee inquires about the current coverage of B-HEARD teams and plans for expansion. Representatives from FDNY and the Mayor's Office of Community Mental Health provide information on team availability and expansion plans.
- Currently, there are 9 B-HEARD teams operating during daytime and afternoon shifts
- Recent changes have eliminated precinct boundaries, allowing teams to respond to more areas of the city
- B-HEARD expansion has been paused due to recent budget considerations, but the city remains committed to citywide expansion
Linda Lee
1:18:53
how many response teams are available per precinct?
1:18:56
And is it still 31 precincts right now that you guys are operating in and just wanted to know how that's prioritized?
Cesar Escobar
1:19:08
So we currently have 9 BEHEARD teams that are operating during the daytime, and we have 9 teams that are operating in our afternoon shift.
1:19:23
And recently, as the mayor announced, we have eliminated some of the pricing boundaries so that our units can respond two areas that are right outside the precinct boundary, which was our limitation in the past.
1:19:39
So as of right now, our be heard teams are able to respond to many more areas of the city now that we've eliminated those artificial boundaries of precincts.
Linda Lee
1:19:51
Okay.
1:19:52
So those 9 teams can pretty much go anywhere in any of those 9 precincts that have a be her team.
Cesar Escobar
1:19:59
That's correct.
Linda Lee
1:20:00
Okay.
1:20:02
And how does the be heard program decide which precincts to expand to next?
1:20:07
And are there current plans?
1:20:08
And what is the current plan to expand be heard and the timeline if you have that information?
Laquisha Grant
1:20:16
Sorry.
1:20:18
So be heard expansion has been paused as a result of the most recent FY 25 peg.
1:20:27
Decisions around where be heard will expand to next have not been made yet.
1:20:33
The the mayor, the city, is still committed to city wide expansion of the be heard program.
1:20:39
At this time, we're using kind of this pause, this delay.
1:20:43
To really make some operational changes, like the one that chief Escobar just described with the removal of the pre sent boundaries.
1:20:52
We look we're looking at ways to get the teams to respond to the most appropriate calls.
1:20:58
And so in the past, decisions around where the teams expanded to were made based off of high 911 mental health call volume in addition to some operational considerations, and that will likely continue to be the case, the criteria that we look at.
1:21:20
But at this moment, there are no no plans for expansion.
