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Q&A
NYPD's role in addressing mental health crises
3:00:10
ยท
84 sec
Council Member Gale A. Brewer inquires about the NYPD's approach to dealing with mental health issues, based on her experience with EMS, police, and social workers. Commissioner Jessica Tisch outlines the department's stance and ongoing efforts in this area.
- Commissioner Tisch believes NYPD should play a support role, not lead, in addressing mental health crises
- NYPD is revamping training for 911 calls involving people in mental health crisis
- Ongoing programs like PATH in the subways show promise and may be scaled up
- Brewer highlights the lack of facilities to place individuals in crisis as a significant challenge
Gale A. Brewer
3:00:10
Mental health.
3:00:11
So I went out with EMS, police, and social workers.
3:00:16
And obviously, as you know, so many of the issues are mental health.
3:00:20
So what ideas do you have for the future to work on that with PD, maybe not just with case workers or peer to peer?
3:00:28
How do you look at dealing with these mental health issues?
Jessica Tisch
3:00:31
I do not believe that the New York City Police Department should be the lead agency addressing mental health in the city.
3:00:41
I believe that we should play a support role.
3:00:46
As I testified earlier, we are revamping our training related to dealing with and addressing nine eleven jobs involving people in mental health crisis.
3:00:59
We have a number of programs that are ongoing now that I think are actually quite fruitful, and I hope to scale, including the PATH program, specifically in our in our subways.
3:01:13
But I think my headline here on your on your question is NYPD should not be the lead agency in addressing the mental health crisis.
Gale A. Brewer
3:01:21
Well, I I went out with BeHeard, and I found that they did a great job.
3:01:24
Problem?
3:01:25
Problem?
3:01:25
No place to put people.
3:01:27
That's not your problem, but it's all of our problems.
3:01:29
They have literally no place to put them.
3:01:32
Hospital lets them go, etcetera.
3:01:34
So to be worked on.