PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Mark Laster, 3rd Vice Chair of Queens Community Board 6, on B-HEARD Program
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Mark Laster, a licensed social worker and 3rd Vice Chair of Queens Community Board 6, testified in support of the Correct Crisis Intervention Today (CCIT-NYC) coalition's recommendations regarding the B-HEARD program. He shared his experiences of asking various NYPD officers about the program, often finding they were unaware of it.
- Laster attended the Citizens Police Academy and has been tracking the B-HEARD program since its launch in 2021.
- He expressed disappointment in the lack of awareness and enthusiasm for the B-HEARD program among NYPD officers he encountered.
- Laster emphasized that police officers should not be primary responders to mental health issues, citing the case of Ariel as an example.
Mark Laster
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hanging in here.
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It's been a long day.
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Honey, my name is Mark Lasser, and I'm a graduate of the Citizens Police Academy, 3rd vice chair of Queen's Community Board 6.
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And a licensed political social worker for over 40 years.
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I'm here today testify in support of the testimony provided by the correct crisis intervention today, NYCCI CCIT, a coalition of advocacy groups and other community organizations that consist of hundreds of community stakeholders working to transform New York City response to mental health crisis.
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My comments today reflect my personal opinion about the BEHARD program, who do not reflect on Community Board's I've been tracking the B.
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Hurd program since its launch in 2021.
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Soon after I read about the program, I was attending a meeting of the 1 12 police precinct councils built a block meeting.
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And as the NCO officers running the meeting, they thought it's about the B.
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Hurd program.
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The response I received is, let's be heard.
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When I explained the program to these offices, they did not express a great deal of enthusiasm for it.
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On November 16 2022, I attended a meeting of the Queensboro president, Donovan Richards, Civic Engagement Committee were chief Gallon Frierson of NYPD, Queen's North, and chief Kevin Williams of Queens NYPD South attended.
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They asked both of them their thoughts about the b hearing program.
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The response I got was, what's b heard?
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Since there are many other civic activists at the meeting, I asked if either one of them would reach out to me or if their staff would reach out to me so we could continue a discussion about it.
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Never heard from them again.
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Then on February 28 2024, I attended the Queen's where our president's town hall meeting where Captain Cordero of the 1 12th Police precinct was present.
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I asked in his opinion about the success of the be heard program, and his response was, what's be heard?
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So I was disappointed with these responses, obviously.
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The disappointment escalated significantly, however, when when when when when when when was Ariel died on March 28 2024 at sea at March 28 2024.
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At CB 6, we discussed passing a resolution regarding this incident, but decided not to when we heard about this hearing, which was scheduled for back in June.
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As I've stated above, I learned about the challenges police officers faced daily during their job by attending the 14 week course of the civilian police academy.
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They have enough on their plates that should not be primary responders when like the Winris area case, a call comes in that's clearly a mental health issue.
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This is why I come here today to testify in support of the CCIT recommendation.
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Thank you very much for listening to my testimony.
