What's happening
This bill establishes a statewide crisis intervention demonstration program and training fund to help law enforcement better respond to mental health and substance use crises.
Why it matters
Creates a coordinated, statewide approach to mental health and substance use crises. by requiring law enforcement to collaborate with mental health and disability agencies, service providers, advocates, and people with lived experience, aiming for more humane and effective interventions.
Dedicates funding and ongoing oversight to crisis response improvements. through a new Crisis Intervention Team Training Fund, supported by federal and private grants, and annual reporting requirements to ensure transparency, accountability, and continuous evaluation of outcomes and resource needs.
Emphasizes alternatives to arrest and incarceration. by requiring law enforcement to receive specialized training (minimum 40 hours) in mental health issues and to establish protocols for diverting individuals in crisis to therapeutic, non-jail settings whenever possible.
Institutionalizes stakeholder input and interagency collaboration. via a diverse crisis intervention advisory committee, ensuring that people with mental health and substance use needs, their families, advocates, clinicians, and law enforcement all have a voice in shaping, reviewing, and improving crisis response systems.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Train Police for Mental Health
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
- Referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
Full text
4 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4218
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 5, 2019
Introduced by Sens. PARKER, COMRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, the state finance law and the general municipal law, in relation to establishing a state crisis intervention demonstration program and a crisis intervention team training fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The mental hygiene law is amended by adding two new sections 7.51 and 7.53 to read as follows: § 7.51 Crisis intervention demonstration program.
(a) The commissioner shall establish a crisis intervention demonstration program in the state of New York for the purpose of assisting law enforcement officers in responding to crisis situations involving persons with mental illness and/or substance use disorder.
(b) The commissioner shall establish within the office the position of crisis intervention team training program coordinator who will serve at the pleasure of the commissioner and who shall work with municipal police departments and any other law enforcement agency in the state that requests assistance to coordinate the provision of crisis intervention team training to its first responders as a part of a specialized response team or as part of training for first responders.
(c) The crisis intervention team training program coordinator shall:
(1) work with communities to develop partnerships, coordinate activities and promote cooperation and collaboration between the office, the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services, law enforcement agencies, disability service providers and people with psychiatric or other disabilities and their families to provide crisis intervention team training;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD09529-01-9
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(2) provide coordination activities and funding support for crisis intervention team training;
(3) provide support, training and community coordination to ensure that mental health service providers in the community provide alternatives to incarceration;
(4) through federal and private grants, provide funding to support training and community coordination costs as necessary. All moneys shall be deposited in the crisis intervention team training fund established by section ninety-nine-ff of the state finance law;
(5) in consultation with the crisis intervention advisory committee established by this article, distribute crisis intervention team training fund moneys as needed for support, training and community coordination costs; and
(6) submit a report to the governor, temporary president of the senate, speaker of the assembly and the crisis intervention advisory committee on or before November fifteenth of each year that contains the following:
(A) a review of all law enforcement agencies that have provided crisis intervention team training to their officers and the number of officers that have completed the training;
(B) a list of communities in this state that have implemented the crisis intervention team training program through training and coordination, including the length of implementation and current status of the program;
(C) recommendations for improvement in the community based partnerships that support crisis intervention team responses;
(D) recommendations for improvement in the law enforcement and public safety agencies that provide crisis intervention team responses; and
(E) a review of all funding resources that the crisis intervention team training program coordinator has applied for to increase available funding, including the status of all funding requests and the total of moneys received.
(d) The demonstration program established pursuant to this section shall end five years after the effective date of this section. § 7.53 Crisis intervention advisory committee.
(a) There is hereby established a crisis intervention advisory committee.
(b) The committee shall consist of:
(1) The commissioner, who shall serve as chairperson of the committee and who is a nonvoting member;
(2) the crisis intervention team training program coordinator, who is a nonvoting member;
(3) one member appointed by the commissioner who is a consumer of mental health services;
(4) one member appointed by the commissioner who is an immediate family member of a consumer of mental health services;
(5) one member appointed by the commissioner who represents a statewide advocacy agency that serves persons with mental disabilities and their families;
(6) one member appointed by the commissioner who is a psychiatrist or psychologist licensed in the state;
(7) one member appointed by the commissioner of alcoholism and substance abuse services;
(8) one member appointed by the commissioner of alcoholism and substance abuse services who represents a statewide behavior advocacy group, agency or association;
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(9) one member appointed by the commissioner of the office for people with developmental disabilities who is either a family member or guardian of a person with a developmental disability;
(10) one member appointed by the commissioner of the office for people with developmental disabilities who is a person with a developmental disability;
(11) one member appointed by the commissioner of the division of criminal justice services upon the recommendation of a state benevolent association representing peace officers who is a certified peace officer;
(12) one member appointed by the commissioner of the division of criminal justice services who is a law enforcement officer; and
(13) one member of a police department appointed by each county that has a crisis intervention team established pursuant to section two hundred nine-gg of the general municipal law.
(c) The committee shall:
(1) meet at least two times in each full calendar year. The committee shall meet at the request of its chairperson; and
(2) review the report required by section 7.51 of this article and based on that report make recommendations to the office of mental health, the office for people with developmental disabilities, the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services, the division of criminal justice services, municipal police departments, the governor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assembly.
(d) Committee members shall not be compensated but are eligible for reimbursement of reasonable expenses.
§ 2. The state finance law is amended by adding a new section 99-ff to read as follows:
§ 99-ff. Crisis intervention team training fund. 1. There is hereby established in the joint custody of the comptroller and the commissioner of the office of mental health a fund to be known as the crisis intervention team training fund.
2. The crisis intervention team training fund shall consist of all moneys received from the federal government and private grants.
3. Any contractors that receive moneys pursuant to this section shall submit quarterly reports to the commissioner of the office of mental health regarding the use and effectiveness of the distributed moneys. The commissioner of the office of mental health shall include a summary of the fund analysis in the annual report required pursuant to section 7.51 of the mental hygiene law.
§ 3. The general municipal law is amended by adding a new section 209-gg to read as follows:
§ 209-gg. Crisis intervention teams. 1. The commissioner of the division of criminal justice services, in consultation with the commissioners of the office of mental health, office for people with developmental disabilities and office of alcoholism and substance abuse services, shall, for all local police departments and any other enforcement agency that chooses to participate:
(a) establish criteria for the development of crisis intervention teams; and
(b) establish, and implement on an ongoing basis, a training program for all current and new employees regarding the policies and procedures established pursuant to this section. The curriculum shall include a minimum of forty hours of mandatory training in mental health issues.
2. The goals of the crisis intervention team program shall be to:
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(a) provide immediate response by specifically trained law enforcement officers;
(b) reduce the amount of time police officers spend out of service awaiting assessment and disposition;
(c) afford persons with mental illness and/or substance use disorder a sense of dignity in crisis situations;
(d) reduce the likelihood of physical confrontation;
(e) identify underserved populations with mental illness and/or substance use disorder and refer them to appropriate care;
(f) decrease the use of arrest and detention of persons experiencing mental health and/or substance use crises by providing better access to timely treatment;
(g) provide therapeutic locations or protocols for officers to bring individuals in crisis for assessment that is not a law enforcement or jail facility; and
(h) decrease injuries to law enforcement officers during crisis events.
3. Other state agencies shall provide cooperation and assistance to the division of criminal justice services to assist in the effective performance of its duties.
§ 4. Section 19.07 of the mental hygiene law is amended by adding a new subdivision (m) to read as follows:
(m) The office of alcoholism and substance abuse services shall, in collaboration with law enforcement and the office of mental health, establish criteria for the development of crisis intervention teams that shall include assessment of the effectiveness of the plan for community involvement, training and therapeutic response alternatives and a determination of whether law enforcement officers have effective agreements with mental health care providers and all other community stakeholders.
§ 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the mental hygiene law, the state finance law and the general municipal law, in relation to establishing a state crisis intervention demonstration program and a crisis inter- vention team training fund
Purpose
This legislation provides for the creation of demonstration crisis intervention teams in New York City in order to increase the effective- ness of first responders to emotionally distressed citizen situations and reduce police initiated casualties.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Amends the mental hygiene law by adding three new sections
7.51, 7.53 and 7.55 to create the crisis intervention program, the crisis intervention team training program advisory committee and the crisis intervention team training fund grant program.
Section 2: Amends the state finance law by adding a new section 99-w to create the crisis team training fund.
Section 3: Amends the general municipal law by adding a new section 204-ff to establish the criteria and goals for a crisis intervention team.
Section 4: Amends section 19.07 of the mental hygiene law by adding a new subdivision (1) to provide for the collaboration of the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services, office of mental health and law enforcement to establish criteria for the development of crisis inter- vention teams.
Justification
The NYPD receives approximately 100,000 calls a year that are related to an "emotionally disturbed person". Often times that person i s suffering with mental health issues, or substance abuse problems, or both that require clinical intervention rather than enforcement that may result in unwarranted arrests, injuries, and fatalities.
Data for the year 2012 indicates that civil suits against the NYPD have doubled in the past decade. By the end of that year over 9,500 lawsuits totaling more than $1 billion had been filed against the NYPD, an oner- ous burden on taxpayers. Additionally, during the last months of 2013 suits were filed totaling over $50 million related to three deaths related to lethal actions by police involving the emotionally impaired.
The creation of a crisis intervention team response model in New York City would provide law-enforcement personnel with the special training necessary to respond to individuals experiencing erratic emotional events from a clinical rather than criminal perspective. Treating these calls less as a threat to public safety and more as a possibility to help a New Yorker in crisis, would provide a pathway to handle the initial calls with the tools necessary to defuse the confrontation and appropriately address the situation. Forty-five states and 2,500 cities have adopted crisis intervention programs wherein law enforcement engaged in 40-80 hour training. The results have included a significant reduction in violence, improved community relations and a reduction in injuries to both law enforcement and the emotionally impaired which in the past had easily become highly volatile and dangerous to both parties. Major cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago have adopted the successful Memphis Model adopted in Tennes- see.
Legislative history
2017-18: S6844 - REFERRED TO MENTAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILI- TIES 2015-16: 5.2644A- Amend and recommitted to mental health and develop- mental disabilities 2013-14: S.6365 referred to mental health and developmental disabilities
Fiscal implications
This bill will have a substantial positive fiscal impact on the City of New York by reducing the legal and settlement costs related to unwar- ranted lethal force against the emotionally impaired. Up to 1 million dollars from the general fund will be used to establish the program.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately and sunset 5 years from the date of enactment.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.