Q&A
Council Member Cabán questions officials on B-HEARD data and program outcomes
2:19:35
·
4 min
Council Member Tiffany Cabán engages in a detailed Q&A session with city officials about the B-HEARD (Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division) program. She inquires about data reporting, program evaluation, and specific outcomes of B-HEARD responses. The discussion highlights concerns about data transparency, the need for standardized reporting, and the potential for independent program evaluation.
- Cabán expresses frustration with the lack of comprehensive data and suggests partnering with local universities for independent evaluations.
- Officials are questioned about specific metrics, including police involvement in B-HEARD calls and the breakdown of community resource connections.
- The exchange reveals gaps in available data and raises questions about HIPAA concerns in relation to data sharing.
Tiffany Cabán
2:19:35
Thank you.
2:19:35
I'm gonna ask you all to be as succinct as possible, and I'm gonna apologize in advance if I interrupt or or cut you off.
2:19:42
Okay.
2:19:43
I'm just gonna dig in.
2:19:45
Why does each data brief created by the city used different variables and measurements to show outcomes associated with be heard.
2:19:50
And do you have plans to standardize what information is in the be heard data briefs?
Laquisha Grant
2:19:57
The metrics that we report on have evolved with the growth of the program.
2:20:04
As we identify different metrics that the public, that counsel are interested in, we try to report on those.
2:20:12
We as of right now, we we released a new data page on Friday that has data spanning from the start of the program through the end of fiscal year 24, which was which just ended 2 months ago, two and a half months ago.
Tiffany Cabán
2:20:28
Thank you.
2:20:28
It I I will say that that data that you dropped on Friday, which didn't leave us a lot of time to to dig into over the over the weekend, but it is pretty thin compared to the data that is kept by other cities.
2:20:39
At this point.
2:20:40
In in Portland, Oregon, for example, Portland State University, they conduct the program evaluation of their street response team.
2:20:47
Would you guys consider partnering with the local university like CUNY, to do something similar, because it would expand your capacity, but also I think that independence is really important too.
Laquisha Grant
2:20:56
We have been in conversations with different academic institutions about be heard.
2:21:02
Oh, and evaluations.
Tiffany Cabán
2:21:03
And specifically about them doing these evaluations.
Laquisha Grant
2:21:05
Yes,
Tiffany Cabán
2:21:06
great.
2:21:06
Thank you.
2:21:07
This is a quick yes or no.
2:21:09
Can the city commit to public and timely quarter quarter data briefs with consistent variables with the things that you're already doing, but some of the things that we've talked about and we'll continue to talk about here today.
Laquisha Grant
2:21:20
We are committed to timely data reporting.
2:21:23
Okay.
Tiffany Cabán
2:21:25
Sorry.
2:21:26
But it's it's one more minute, Gail.
2:21:28
Sorry.
2:21:28
Counsel member Brewer.
2:21:29
I'm just I'm I'm getting.
2:21:32
Out of the the calls that be heard response to what percent of those after they get there do police then get called in?
Laquisha Grant
2:21:44
We do not have that data at the moment.
Tiffany Cabán
2:21:46
Okay.
2:21:46
And and I I named earlier the very, very low, almost nonexistent percentages in other cities.
2:21:52
So I think that's important to keep.
2:21:55
We talked about the 118,000 dispatches.
2:21:59
I'm gonna do two questions together, but we talked about the 118 dispatches.
2:22:03
While that's only a small percentage, I think that's probably still too many when we know that one third one out of every three people killed by a stranger or killed by a police officer, half of the people killed by police officers in this country are people live living with a mental health diagnosis, so we know what's at STAKE HERE.
2:22:20
WE KNOW THAT THE OFFICERS THAT KILLED KOSKY TRAINER WITH WERE CIT TRAIN.
2:22:24
IN FACT, 1 OF THEM WAS TRAINED Just THREE DAYS BEFORE THAT SHOOTING.
2:22:28
SO IT'S Just HAMMER'S HOME THAT POLICE No MATTER THE TRAINING ARE NOT THE RIGHT RESPONDER here and just so I just wanna emphasize that.
2:22:37
And then my last question in this round is, you said that out of the 44% that 44% of people were connected to a community resource.
2:22:48
What's the breakdown?
2:22:49
How many years of that 44% are staying where they are?
2:22:51
How many are going to a local resource?
2:22:53
Which local resource are they going to?
2:22:55
Of that 43%, how many did you respond to on a subsequent call again?
2:23:00
Are there any trends that you're noticing from the breakdowns of those interactions?
2:23:04
Because none of that information is available.
Jason Hansman
2:23:08
So we do I don't have that information in front of me.
2:23:11
We'll we'll follow-up with with that.
2:23:12
It's something that we we do track about how many folks are and where folks are going, but it's a combination of referring back to a provider.
2:23:21
It's a combination of taking someone to a support and connection center.
2:23:25
And a combination of of referring someone even to our virtual experience.
Tiffany Cabán
2:23:30
You do have it, but you didn't bring it here today?
Jason Hansman
2:23:32
There's there's issues with, you know, the the amount of data that we can provide based on how many times we did it.
2:23:41
And HIPAA in our ability to to share.
Tiffany Cabán
2:23:43
I I don't know what HIPAA has to do with how many people you left in the community that didn't that opted not to go to a program or what programs are being utilized without giving anybody's personal information.
2:23:53
I was a lawyer.
2:23:54
I I had my client sign HIPAA.
2:23:56
I know exactly what type of information must be protected.
2:24:00
And what I'm asking you has nothing to do with HIPAA at all.
Cesar Escobar
2:24:05
So so, again, some of the
Gale Brewer
2:24:08
I just
Tiffany Cabán
2:24:08
I just I'm just disturbed that you didn't come here with the information that we were likely to ask about today.
2:24:13
So I'm a manager.
2:24:14
I've gone over time.
2:24:15
I wanna be respectful.
2:24:16
I will hand it over to the chairs.
Mercedes Narcisse
2:24:20
Thank you.
2:24:21
We're gonna have a second round.
