Op-ed | When mental health crises happen, New Yorkers deserve more than one option

An incident in Queens concerning a neighbor with severe mental health symptoms exposed systemic issues with New York City's crisis response system. Despite a caller requesting a B-HEARD team, police arrived first because of existing city dispatch protocols. The article stresses that the core problem is insufficient staffing and workforce availability, noting that over one-third of calls eligible for B-HEARD between Fiscal Years 2022 and 2024 never received service.