The NYPD says the current capturing of 22-year-old Jabez Chakraborty was justified as a result of he lunged on the cops with a big kitchen knife inside seconds of them approaching his residence in response to a name from a relative asking for assist throughout a psychological well being disaster.
It’s a well-recognized and tragic final result in New York Metropolis, one which Mayor Zohran Mamdani has promised to reform by the creation of a brand new Division of Neighborhood Security that strikes such encounters away from police and to psychological well being staff.
However an evaluation by THE CITY of present efforts — in addition to the sequence of occasions that led to Chakraborty’s capturing — point out that even with extra psychological well being staff, police might proceed to be referred to as on as first responders within the overwhelming majority of circumstances.
The fateful confrontation began with a 911 name by Chakraborty’s sister, who calmly requested to the dispatcher that an ambulance — and never cops — reply. Throughout a previous incident together with her brother, who had been recognized with schizophrenia, the police who confirmed up informed her she ought to have requested for an ambulance as a substitute, a historical past she relayed to the 911 dispatcher.
The sister assured the operator her brother was not violent, had no weapons and hadn’t damage anybody. She stated Chakraborty had thrown glass at a wall, however not at any particular particular person, and he or she requested an “involuntary transport” by way of ambulance to a hospital.
Jabez Chakraborty’s sister referred to as 911 to request an ambulance to their Queens residence as her brother was experiencing a psychological well being disaster. Credit score: Through NYPD
The point out of “involuntary transport” and the glass throwing was sufficient to set off the dispatcher to ship cops, as a substitute of EMS staff.
Inside seconds of police arriving, Chakraborty grabbed a big knife and approached the officers, who tried to again away and yell at him to drop the knife. When Chakraborty didn’t comply, one in every of them fired 4 rounds.
The Jan. 26 capturing has now dramatically raised the stakes in Mamdani’s signature plan to create a Division of Neighborhood Security.
At an unrelated press convention this week, Mamdani made a degree of mentioning the proposed company, saying it goals “to build a mental health system rooted in prevention, and sustained care, and a real crisis response, so officers no longer have to handle these situations alone.”
The mayor didn’t present particulars on who will run it and the way it will function, however he stated he has instructed his crew “to speed up this work.” Mamdani additionally stated the police appeared to have acted appropriately on this case. He visited Chakraborty within the hospital and requested the Queens District Legal professional, who’s investigating the incident, to not file costs towards him.
Decreasing the reliance on the police to deal with psychological well being calls like Chakraborty’s is on the coronary heart of Mamdani’s plans for the Division of Neighborhood Security. A central aspect of that effort might be an growth of a crew of skilled clinicians referred to as the Behavioral Well being Emergency Help Response Division (B-HEARD).
Launched in 2021 by then-Mayor Invoice de Blasio, B-HEARD sends clinicians to reply to psychological well being calls deemed to be “non-violent” as a substitute of cops. This system began in just a few precincts and expanded over time to 31 precincts.
Mamdani plans to place B-HEARD groups underneath the Division of Neighborhood Security umbrella, broaden it to all 78 precincts and improve its funding, which has been flat at $35 million during the last three years, by 150%. Total he estimates the brand new neighborhood security division will value $1 billion yearly.
Whether or not this dramatic growth of B-HEARD will really scale back the variety of police interactions with folks in psychological well being crises is an open query.
All calls to 911 are dealt with by the NYPD, but when there’s any indication of a psychological well being difficulty, the dispatcher patches in EMS staff to consult with the caller about what they’re witnessing. This triage crew asks a collection of questions to find out if there’s a possible for violence, then decides about whether or not police are required.
A overview by THE CITY of 911 name information from 2024 by 2026 in B-HEARD precincts discovered that the overwhelming majority of 911 psychological well being calls led to a police response — as a substitute of a medical one. What’s extra, the share of calls ending in police responses has been rising, from 73% in fiscal 12 months 2024, to 85.5% in 2025, to 86.4% in fiscal 12 months 2026 so far.
Throughout these years, THE CITY discovered that in each the B-HEARD precincts and citywide, round 50% of all psychological well being calls have been deemed to have the potential for violence by 911 dispatchers. Throughout that very same interval, between 25% and 32% of calls have been merely labeled as an “EDP call” [emotionally disturbed person], as a result of the dispatcher couldn’t decide whether or not there was a danger of violence. That designation additionally mechanically triggers a police response.
In precincts with out B-HEARD packages, cops reply to just about 100% of psychological well being calls. Throughout the B-HEARD precincts, simply 14% of calls in 2026 up to now ended with psychological well being staff being dispatched.
A spokesperson for Right Disaster Intervention As we speak (CCIT), which advocates for modifications to the way in which first responders deal with psychological well being calls, informed THE CITY, “The data showing that 911 dispatchers route the vast majority of mental health crisis calls to police, even in B-HEARD precincts, underscore a core problem that expansion of B-HEARD alone will not fix.”
Liz Glazer, previously head of the Mayor’s Workplace of Prison Justice throughout de Blasio’s tenure and now writer of Important Metropolis, an city coverage publication, apprehensive that Mamdani could also be overrelying on B-HEARD within the formation of his Division of Neighborhood Security.
“He’s focused on B-HEARD, that there should be a big expansion, and that somehow will satisfy the need. But if B-HEARD is it and if civilian intervention is the focus, that’s incredibly limited and partial and doesn’t recognize the complexity and the duration of this issue,” she informed THE CITY. “What’s important is that any civilian response is connected to a system that’s coordinated from end to end, meaning from 911 or outreach to ideally housing and services.”
One of many challenges for the Division of Neighborhood Security would be the essential position dispatchers play in deciding whether or not to steer psychological well being calls to civilian clinicians, EMS or the police.
“There are problems all along the way,” Glazer stated. “What’s the criteria for deciding when it goes to a civilian team or when it goes to the police. The factors default to police because they don’t know if there’s going to be a need for police or not.”
In Chakraborty’s case, the household particularly informed the operator he was not violent and that they needed an ambulance. In a press release launched Wednesday after the NYPD posted the physique digital camera footage of the capturing and audio of the 911 name, the household stated the decision makes clear “the situation was calm when the call was made, and we were getting ready to go to accompany Jabez” to the hospital.
Viewing the body-cam footage “takes us back to that horrible moment when we were trying to get medical care for him and instead NYPD officers arrived,” the household assertion stated.
They charged that the presence of the officers “caused the situation to escalate quickly and unnecessarily.”
“This is why officers should not be responding to medical support calls,” the household asserted.
Rozario Capturing
Chakraborty’s case additionally remembers the killing of Win Rozario, a 19-year-old experiencing a psychological well being disaster who was fatally shot by police on March 27, 2024.
That afternoon, his mom referred to as 911 and said, “I think my son is on drugs and is acting mad erratic.” The dispatcher obtained the deal with from the mom however then the decision reduce off.
The dispatcher referred to as again, and it seems Rozario himself answered the decision and informed her “No” when she requested in the event that they’d requested the police. The dispatcher however despatched two cops to the deal with.
After they entered the house, Rozario was standing within the kitchen along with his mom and youthful brother. When he noticed the cops, Rozario picked up a pair of scissors from a drawer and commenced to strategy them.
One of many cops hit Rozario with a Taser, and his mom managed to take the scissors away from him. Then one of many cops once more used a Taser on Rozario, who not had the scissors in his hand. That prompted him to choose up the scissors and once more advance towards the cops. Finally each cops wound up firing 5 rounds at Rozario, killing him.
As is required by all deadly police shootings, the state Legal professional Common’s workplace of particular investigation examined the Rozario capturing. In its December report, the workplace requested Eva Wong, director of the mayor’s workplace of neighborhood psychological well being, if a B-HEARD crew might have been despatched to the scene on condition that the 911 caller made no point out of violence.
In a letter to OSI, Wong famous that the precinct the place Rozario lived was not served by B-HEARD, however she claimed that even when it was, “because the subject of the 911 call was said to be ‘on drugs’ the call was ineligible for a B-HEARD response.”
The invoice to broaden B-HEARD and create the Division of Neighborhood Security has not but arrived on the metropolis council’s public security committee. The companies concerned — together with the NYPD, the FDNY (overseeing EMS) and the Division of Social Companies (DSS) — will weigh in. Questions will give attention to whether or not the brand new company is duplicative of present bureaucracies, and the way to make sure the protection of each folks experiencing a disaster and first responders.
“This problem is complex, and I look forward to exploring the many ideas that can help resolve these challenges,” stated Councilmember Oswald Feliz, D-Bronx, chair of the committee. “We must do everything to support New Yorkers facing mental health challenges.”
Extra reporting by Haidee Chu.
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