Continuing Dialog with the NYPD
Much of Community Access' advocacy work focuses on improving relations between police officers and the mental health community. Back in January, the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD published "A Review of NYPD's Approach to Handling Interactions with People in Mental Crisis." And earlier this month, the NYPD responded to this report. Here, now, is our response to the NYPD:
In the April 30, 2017 NYPD response to the OIG report on Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT), the NYPD reiterated its commitment to support New Yorkers experiencing emotional distress through enhanced training in crisis de-escalation techniques. While we continue to appreciate these sincere efforts, we have grave concerns about elements of the response that devalue the necessary changes that would protect the lives and safety of our community members.
We are heartened that the NYPD is considering some changes to protocol about response to Emotionally Disturbed Person (EDP) calls. The proposed changes are an inadequate substitute for routing EDP calls immediately to CIT officers through 911 operators. Most incidents of violence occur in first three minutes of an incident, and CIT trained officers must be the first on the scene every time.
We are concerned that the NYPD only states its willingness to train 5,500 of the 36,000 total NYPD officers. We will continue to advocate for at least 15,000 trained officers.
Much of the NYPD response to the OIG report demonstrates the NYPD’s concerns for the mental health community. But we find several parts of their response troubling.
First, between 2013 and 2015 there were at least two deaths at the hands of NYPD: Rexford Dasrath and Dennis Volchkin. Their deaths are not recognized by the NYPD in this report.
Second, there were at least three incidents with EDPs that raised the concern of the city. One involved the beating and arrest of an individual on the upper west side, Professor Lafont. Another was the high-profile shooting in Times Square that resulted in injury to Sahar, a member of our coalition. And a 2013 public beating of an EDP community member by members of the ESU. These incidents are not recognized by the NYPD in this report.
Furthermore, the Emergency Service Unit (ESU), a force of 350 officers is not a substitute for a CIT trained force. Their training is not meant to change the hearts and minds of officers to respond to mental health recipients in a more compassionate manner. The ESU is not trained in de-escalation, they are trained to command and control violent situations.
Finally, the NYPD continues its campaign of non-transparency about the number of officers trained in the high-quality 36-hour CIT training. Only about 2,200 officers have been trained in this stand-alone training. The NYPD confirms this number in private meetings but in this response NYPD does not publicly acknowledge that the record of 5,500 officers trained reflects new recruits with a minimal mental health training component. We do not recognize the training offered to new recruits as comprehensive and effective CIT training.
Community Access and the Communities for Crisis Intervention Teams will continue to advocate for increased training of NYPD officers, facilitation of CIT-trained officers to the most vulnerable of community situations, and for enhanced transparency regarding project implementation.
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Carla Rabinowitz
Advocacy Coordinator
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212-780-1400, ext. 7726
