Clinicians Team with Police to Respond to Mentally Ill and Homeless

The New York Police Department will soon have professional help when dealing with the mentally ill. Starting next month, the city says 12 licensed social workers and psychologists hired by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will team up with officers and form a specialized mental health unit to be housed within the police department. 

Health Department official John Volpe, a special advisor on criminal justice, said the teams will respond mostly to calls from staff at homeless shelters that are specifically for the mentally ill, and from officers at local precincts who have identified people in crisis. 

"People in the community might raise a red flag for someone...who might be needing help," he said. "That often would go through the precinct route and . . . we would respond."

Volpe said teams would not be the primary responders for calls coming through the city's 911 system, although they could potentially assist with them. He said those calls would get routed as usual to officers on patrol.  According to the NYPD, more than 12,000 emergency calls a month involve "an emotionally-disturbed person."

The city said the teams of clinicians and officers are expected to act early and decisively in order to "defuse escalating risk."

Volpe said that in cases where there is no imminent threat, the clinicians would take the lead and the person in distress could be taken to the hospital if necessary, or be given a referral to a mental health clinic or drug treatment program.