Public Advocate Jumaane Williams raised concerns about the city’s plan to involuntarily hospitalize more people with severe, untreated mental illnesses in an interview on Wednesday, criticizing its “lack of clarity” and reliance on the NYPD.

A directive Adams issued Tuesday will allow city-led “intervention teams” to remove people experiencing severe mental health crises from the city’s streets and subways if they appear to be unable to meet their own “basic human needs.”

Speaking with NY1’s Rocco Vertuccio Wednesday afternoon, Williams said there were “parts of the plan that we like,” but maintained others raised more questions than answers. 

“There’s a lot of broad things there — we’re actually sending a letter to the mayor and the administration to try to get some more clarity on what is meant by this plan — because there’s a lack of clarity in so many places, except for, more people are being involuntarily removed,” he said. 

“Our concern is that even the parts that we like, there’s no information about how much funding is going to go to the mobile crisis teams, how much funding is going to go to the drop-in centers, and the parts that will actually provide the care that’s needed,” he added.

Up until Tuesday, city agencies only involuntarily hospitalized New Yorkers who posed an immediate danger to themselves or to the general public. 

The new directive will allow them to hospitalize anyone who “appears to be mentally ill and displays an inability to meet basic living needs, even when no recent dangerous act has been observed.” 

While Williams on Tuesday praised the city’s efforts to connect New Yorkers in need to drop-in centers, safe havens and other services — a push he called for in a report his office released in 2019 — he said it was too "stubbornly insistent on using police as main decision makers in mental health emergencies.” 

The teams transporting New Yorkers in crisis to hospitals for evaluation will comprise of NYPD officers and health care workers, the mayor said Tuesday. 

“Now of course, if it is deemed that police are necessary, they should be ready to do the job that they’re there for,” Williams said Wednesday. “But what we should not assume is that a mental health call needs a police response, and that has been the problem from the beginning.” 

“We actually need a different number, that we’ve been pushing for, so people can call to get the assistance that they need,” he added. “We should not be asking police to make medical decisions, to involuntarily put someone in the hospital.” 

The public advocate also raised concerns about the plan’s ability to provide long-term care for people experiencing mental health issues. 

“We don’t want to start rounding up people because it seems like they need help. We want to make sure that people get the help they need,” he said. 

“People who ride the subway, my wife, my 14-year-old, they want to be safe, they want to feel safe. But they also know they don’t want people to simply be arrested and taken away,” he added. “They want them to get the care that they deserve.”

NY1 has reached out to City Hall for comment on Williams’ remarks.