POLITICS
Mental health response teams miss goals
In 2021, the city launched a pilot program to get police out of responding to mental health emergencies. Now, some say it isn't meeting expectations.
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Last year, 911 was called in New York City almost 175,000 times for a person in crisis — someone who may need immediate mental health care. For years, a tiny fraction of those encounters with police turned deadly. Most recently, a 19-year-old in Queens man was fatally shot by police while he was having an apparent mental health crisis. The incident is once again raising questions about how the city responds to these emergencies.
In this exclusive investigation, NY1 looks at how the NYPD responds to these emergency calls and whether the city’s mental health crisis teams are effective. In some cases, people are falling through the cracks, sometimes with deadly consequences.
In 2021, the city launched a pilot program to get police out of responding to mental health emergencies. Now, some say it isn't meeting expectations.
Every year, the city's 911 system gets tens of thousands of calls reporting a person in crisis. A small fraction of those cases turn deadly.
