It isn't fair to expect the police to handle mental health issues, they're not trained and that just puts everyone in danger. He sounds Iike he actually did the homework, so unusual these days.
Ta, Robyn. Well, nerd that I am, I read the whole 17 pages. He even mentioned the need for trauma informed care post-pandemic, which I've been advocating for years. The contrast with Adams could not be starker. Zohran for NYC!
I personally had that experience when I lived in NYC. After calling the mental health hotline, not dialing 911, 4 cops showed up at my apartment, cuffed me while doing a search in my apartment like I broke some law that doesn’t actually exist. When you’re in a mental health breakdown, the last thing you need is a bunch of cops treating you like some criminal mastermind before hauling you off to the closest psych ward that is locked down. When you need help because you were having a drug induced suicidal thoughts because your doctor decided that when the drug was making me more depressed than I was before it was prescribed the best way to deal with it is upping the dose by doubling it, a cop is the last thing you need. It was one of the worst experiences I ever had.
I can only hope that most of the New Yorkers who are now supporting Andrew Cuomo are either bitchez-be-lyin' guys, or voters for whom (at this stage, anyway) name recognition is all.
Literally five minutes before the George Floyd protests, I could convince anyone that police should not be the primary response for mental health crises and ACTUAL POLICE OFFICERS agreed with me. I used to do intake at an urban ER. For every one officer who came in with someone and said “I know this guy from the street, I know his baseline and this ain’t it, and he needs help” there’d be 10 that would just throw problems at us. And we’d get them in and be all “uhhhh…. This dude just needs a sandwich and some rest.” We live in a “good” mental health state so we have some crisis management places we can call.
You would think cops would appreciate someone else taking over the mental health crisis response calls so they can focus on what they’re actually trained for (beating the shit out of minorities). Politically though, tying it to cutting the cop’s OT fund is probably a mistake. That won’t make the police unions happy and they already have way too much power in NYC.
At least he’s not resurrecting that insipid “defund the police” slogan.
I think one thing that might help is to bring up paramedics. Back in the day we didn't have people in vans rushing to help. The police handled those calls, too. But we have paramedics now because there's a bunch of stuff that the police simply can't handle. Not because they're mean or stupid, but because they aren't trained and don't have time. I think we've reached another moment just like when we decided to have paramedics help people in medical crisis rather than expecting the police to ALSO be medical staff.
To sell the idea to the center, I think we need to de-emphasize the lethality of the cops and all that, and focus on the fact that police can't handle every single crisis that comes up. We don't have them put out fires, either. We can't have them switching to entirely different work that requires a completely different mindset and skillset. It's asking too much for cops to also be therapists. And that's what some folks need, an Emergency Mental Health Professional.
I think a "too much on the cops plate" approach might be more effective especially when talking to people who have only ever had a positive view of cops (they exist).
with nationwide crime rates at historically low levels, mr mamdani's proposals make more sense now than ever (esp since most big-city cops refuse to do what little their jobs require anyway)...which unfortunately means he doesnt have a snowball's chance in hell of being elected mayor in NY-or-any-other-big-C...his proposal to eliminate the OT budget alone guarantees 40k cop votes against him
To understand crime, and mental illness, for that matter, you have to look at crime and mental illness as non-conformity. What kind of life can we lead if we have to deal with non-conformists all the time? We need cops to keep the non-conformists off the street so the rest of us can go about our lives without all those disturbances.
It isn't fair to expect the police to handle mental health issues, they're not trained and that just puts everyone in danger. He sounds Iike he actually did the homework, so unusual these days.
"The city moved to the right in the presidential election in November after President Trump portrayed the city as crime-ridden "
sigh
I had assumed New Yorkers were smarter than that
Here's a link to a Substack video by Kareem Rahma about Going to Iftar with Mamdani.
https://substack.com/@kareemrahma/note/p-160255685?r=2knm5p&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Ta, Robyn. Well, nerd that I am, I read the whole 17 pages. He even mentioned the need for trauma informed care post-pandemic, which I've been advocating for years. The contrast with Adams could not be starker. Zohran for NYC!
I'm thinking seriously about voting for Zoran I had some door knockers chat him up. Sounded like what we need
I personally had that experience when I lived in NYC. After calling the mental health hotline, not dialing 911, 4 cops showed up at my apartment, cuffed me while doing a search in my apartment like I broke some law that doesn’t actually exist. When you’re in a mental health breakdown, the last thing you need is a bunch of cops treating you like some criminal mastermind before hauling you off to the closest psych ward that is locked down. When you need help because you were having a drug induced suicidal thoughts because your doctor decided that when the drug was making me more depressed than I was before it was prescribed the best way to deal with it is upping the dose by doubling it, a cop is the last thing you need. It was one of the worst experiences I ever had.
I'm so sorry you were traumatized like that
I can only hope that most of the New Yorkers who are now supporting Andrew Cuomo are either bitchez-be-lyin' guys, or voters for whom (at this stage, anyway) name recognition is all.
Why We Cannot Go From Eric Adams to Andrew Cuomo - Olurinatti
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB4gqnUfp-k
Literally five minutes before the George Floyd protests, I could convince anyone that police should not be the primary response for mental health crises and ACTUAL POLICE OFFICERS agreed with me. I used to do intake at an urban ER. For every one officer who came in with someone and said “I know this guy from the street, I know his baseline and this ain’t it, and he needs help” there’d be 10 that would just throw problems at us. And we’d get them in and be all “uhhhh…. This dude just needs a sandwich and some rest.” We live in a “good” mental health state so we have some crisis management places we can call.
You would think cops would appreciate someone else taking over the mental health crisis response calls so they can focus on what they’re actually trained for (beating the shit out of minorities). Politically though, tying it to cutting the cop’s OT fund is probably a mistake. That won’t make the police unions happy and they already have way too much power in NYC.
At least he’s not resurrecting that insipid “defund the police” slogan.
"Police union" is a polite term for "protection racket."
Here in Denver we have the STAR program, and it's honestly been fantastic. NY would absolutely benefit from similar.
https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Public-Health-Environment/Community-Behavioral-Health/Behavioral-Health-Strategies/Support-Team-Assisted-Response-STAR-Program
Hiring more police to reduce crime makes as much sense as electing a trump to reduce crime.
Or electing him to reduce the deficit.
I think one thing that might help is to bring up paramedics. Back in the day we didn't have people in vans rushing to help. The police handled those calls, too. But we have paramedics now because there's a bunch of stuff that the police simply can't handle. Not because they're mean or stupid, but because they aren't trained and don't have time. I think we've reached another moment just like when we decided to have paramedics help people in medical crisis rather than expecting the police to ALSO be medical staff.
To sell the idea to the center, I think we need to de-emphasize the lethality of the cops and all that, and focus on the fact that police can't handle every single crisis that comes up. We don't have them put out fires, either. We can't have them switching to entirely different work that requires a completely different mindset and skillset. It's asking too much for cops to also be therapists. And that's what some folks need, an Emergency Mental Health Professional.
I think a "too much on the cops plate" approach might be more effective especially when talking to people who have only ever had a positive view of cops (they exist).
Sounds like a good strategy.
Thanks for boosting Zohran on Wonkette. He's my assemblyman here in New York and I really hope he can manage to edge out Cuomo.
He got right up in Tom Homan's face when the latter was disappearing more people
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aPpg7sGdDV0
and then he got racial abuse for standing up for the rights of U.S. citizens and legal residents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yfghaQbfvA
I blame the four thousand cop shows on TV that portray asshole cops as the good guys.
That's the modern part of it, sure
One of the reasons it's so hard to dislodge is because modern police practice is based on, that's right, the old slavecatcher laws
How American Slavery Helped Create Modern Day Policing - The Root
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qtz5WPd86o
with nationwide crime rates at historically low levels, mr mamdani's proposals make more sense now than ever (esp since most big-city cops refuse to do what little their jobs require anyway)...which unfortunately means he doesnt have a snowball's chance in hell of being elected mayor in NY-or-any-other-big-C...his proposal to eliminate the OT budget alone guarantees 40k cop votes against him
To understand crime, and mental illness, for that matter, you have to look at crime and mental illness as non-conformity. What kind of life can we lead if we have to deal with non-conformists all the time? We need cops to keep the non-conformists off the street so the rest of us can go about our lives without all those disturbances.