The New York City Department of Community Safety, to deal with the mentally ill, was supposed to be one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s boldest creations.
Now, 11 weeks after the mayor took his oath of office, the city’s first community safety department isn’t a department; it’s an office in City Hall.
The mayor’s executive order is a long way from the sweeping vision he campaigned on, focusing mostly on crime prevention and certain 911 responses.
“Today is a day of ambition, a day where we commit to approaching public safety with the complexity and the innovation that it deserves,” Mamdani said.
The new Office of Community Safety will develop prevention strategies for gun violence, domestic and gender-based violence, and hate crimes.
It will focus on intervention and problem-solving at the neighborhood level.
Response plans will include services for crime victims and mental health crises.
Deputy Mayor Renita Francois will oversee the new agency.
“The mayor is committed to tangible, systemic change with proper coordination and real investments,” Francois said.
Mamdani believes police responses often inflame emotionally unstable people.
Last month, officers wounded a schizophrenic man who charged at them with a knife. Some calls, he says, should be handled by civilians.
“For far too long, we have approached crime and safety by placing only ever-expanding expectations on the police department, as we have asked them to address every failure of our social safety nets,” Mamdani said.
On Wednesday, NYPD commissioner Jessica Tisch told the city council that only a tiny percentage of 911 calls could be diverted to civilian responders.
“Roughly 2% of the 911 calls for service today would be eligible for a non-police response,” Tisch said.
Far from a billion-dollar city department, the new agency is clearly less ambitious.
Brian Stettin was the Adams Administration’s advisor on severe mental illness.
“I’m not seeing anything revolutionary. I’m seeing a consolidation of things that have been going on for years, and it probably has some value in reorganizing it. But I’m still waiting to hear the big idea of how we’re going to do things differently,” Stettin said.
Thursday’s event was long on ceremony, short on substance.
The mayor’s supporters give him credit for taking an important first step, even if it isn’t the giant leap he’d envisioned at City Hall.
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