By Carla Rabinowitz, Advocacy Coordinator, Community Access, Project Coordinator, Communities for Crisis Intervention Teams in NYC (CCINYC)
Coalition Says the City Needs More Options
Recent police shootings of people in emotional distress have catalyzed our coalition of mental health advocates and organizations to further reform efforts. We testified about needed efforts at a recent City Council hearing, focusing on the need for alternatives to police responding to New Yorkers in crisis. On the day we testified, another NYC resident, Miguel Richards, was shot and killed by the NYPD. He was only 31 years old. Video of his shooting was recently released.
To create change, we need the Mayor to revive the defunct Taskforce on Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice. We need to bring all stakeholders together to build efforts to solve issues of community policing. And, we need the coordination of the Mayor’s office to find non-police alternatives to 911 calls of people in emotional distress.
We are planning a press conference for Wednesday, October 18, at the steps of City Hall in Manhattan at Noon. Everyone is invited to join us as we bring these pressing needs to the media to better inform elected officials.
My Testimony at the City Council Hearing on the NYPD Response to Mental Health Crises
“Thank you to the members of the Council for hearing this testimony today. My name is Carla Rabinowitz. I am the Advocacy Coordinator at Community Access and the Project Coordinator of CCINYC, a coalition of 75 organizations and stakeholders whose mission is to improve relations between the NYPD and the mental health community by advocating for a fully responsive Crisis Intervention Team approach and diverting mental health recipients away from the criminal justice system.
“Community Access is a 44-year-old non-profit that helps people with mental health concerns through quality supportive housing and employment training.
“CCITNYC and Community Access request that you revive the Mayor’s Task Force on Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice. This Taskforce met twice in 2014 and has since been defunct.
“We ask that you recommend the Mayor assign this Taskforce to the oversight of a Deputy Mayor.
“We need all stakeholders and all city and state agencies at the table to suggest alternatives to police responding to these EDP calls. Expanding co-response teams throughout the city, more mobile crisis teams, and pairing mental health peers with police to calm down these encounters are a few ideas to explore.
“Some of the contributions of the Taskforce have already been taken up by the city, including the implementation of CIT training for some members of the NYPD.
“The NYPD training is going well, though there is still a significant need for adequate training.
We ask that at least 15,000 officers be trained, especially since Rikers is closing and there will be more of these encounters. Countless people have been saved by CIT officers. CIT officers saved a child threatening his mom with a knife, and stopped many potential suicides.
“But CIT training alone is not going to prevent these recurring deaths.
“Since the NYPD started CIT training, at least 6 mental health recipients have died in police encounters:
“Mario Ocasio, age 51, in June 2015; Rashan Lloyd , age 25, in June 2016; Deborah Danner, age 66, in October 2016; Ariel Galarza, age 49, in November 2016; Dwayne Jeune, age 32, in July 2017; and Andy Sookdeo, age 29, in August 2017.
“We need to solve issues before mental health recipients get into crisis, and for that we need funding of community services.
“We need alternatives to hospitals, which recipients fear, like Respite care, where people in crisis can learn to recover and get connected to long-term support.
“We need to support the police by building diversion centers to provide a rapid handoff of New Yorkers in acute crisis from police custody to get immediate care and long-term connections to community resources.
“We need community forums with police and mental health recipients to reduce the fear in the mental health community when the police arrive.
“And most importantly, we need the Mayor to revive his 2014 Taskforce on Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice. And place this Taskforce under a Deputy Mayor, with the resources to get things done.
“We need all stakeholders and all city and state agencies at the table to suggest alternatives to police responding to these EDP calls. Expanding co-response teams throughout the city, more mobile crisis teams, and pairing mental health peers with police to calm down these encounters are a few ideas to explore.
“Therefore, we ask that you recommend the Mayor revive his 2014 Taskforce on Criminal Justice and Behavioral Health.”
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