NYC Mayor Adams’ mental health hospitalization plan greeted with skepticism from cops

Mayor Adams with police officers at the E. 116th St. and Lexington Ave. subway station in East Harlem last week. Photo Courtesy: New York Daily News

Kathmandu: The skepticism was swift and citywide, from police precincts to emergency rooms and EMS ambulances, when Mayor Adams rolled out his new plan to force the mentally-ill into medical treatment.

Those front-line first responders, speaking with the Daily News, were quick to question the details surrounding the newly-announced approach to their jobs, specifically citing the increased responsibilities for already busy workers, potential legal issues and threats to their on-the-job safety.

Adams announced the new plan this past Tuesday for first responders and other city workers to deal directly with the mentally ill, with the city more aggressively using a state law to involuntarily place people under immediate care.

But a Manhattan NYPD supervisor dismissed the City Hall plan as well-intentioned but best left in the hands of trained health care workers.

The initiative is already underway in the subways, where the NYPD Transit Bureau began deploying in teams with clinicians and nurses in October.

(News Source: New York Daily News)