Months after ordering the NYPD to involuntarily transport to the hospital a broader range of people displaying signs of mental illness, police officials revealed Monday that officers are actually transporting fewer people than before.
Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial directive in November empowered NYPD and MTA police officers to remove people from the street and subways if officers deem they can’t meet their own basic needs for health and safety. Through mid-March this year, 1,332 were involuntarily transported to hospitals under police orders, according to testimony at a City Council hearing from NYPD Chief of Interagency Operations Theresa Tobin. That represented a 4.6% decrease from last year with Manhattan recording the highest percentage of removals citywide.
City Council members did not react to the removal numbers but did express alarm at other data Tobin shared – the demographic breakdown of those who were involuntarily transported: 47% Black and 19% white. (The city is approximately 23% Black and 40% white.)
“I am disturbed,” said Councilmember Carmen De La Rosa. “That right there, to me, seems like it is a system that continues to target people of color.”
In announcing the change last year, Adams said emergency responders previously could only take those to the hospital who were “violent, suicidal or presenting a risk of imminent harm.” The new directive, he said, would clear up any gray areas.
Evidence of such inability to support oneself includes untreated injuries and delusions. After an evaluation at the hospital, clinicians decide if the person needs to be admitted.
At the time, the NYPD had not yet begun training officers on its implementation. But as of this week, 87% of patrol officers have been trained, according to numbers that City Hall provided to Gothamist. Still, the details of the training is unclear. The New York Civil Liberties Union sued last week to pry loose copies of the training materials.
Commissioner Keechant Sewell said Monday that the department is focused on training officers to deal with people with mental illness and “treating this problem like the health emergency that it is.”
The MTA, which has its own police force that patrols public transportation along with the NYPD, did not respond to an immediate request for comment on whether its transport numbers likewise decreased this year.
The NYCLU opposes the mayor’s directive, saying the policy opens up the possibility that people who pose no threat to themselves or others will end up being put into a mental health system that is already over capacity. The Coalition for the Homeless likewise objected to the policy, saying it scapegoated homeless people as violent.
Complaints against the NYPD for involuntary transportation have crept up in recent years, and totaled 3,100 from 2017 to 2022, according to the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
