Council member Erik Bottcher called on the mayor to expand a program that of mental health crisis responders in response to a “humanitarian crisis” unfolding on the West Side of Manhattan
In a letter to Mayor Adams, Bottcher urged him to bring the Behavioral Health Emergency Assistance Response Division (B-HEARD) into all the precincts covering his West Side council district. The pilot program, which launched in 2021, sends FDNY paramedics and emergency technicians and mental health clinicians instead of police officers to 911 calls involving mental health crises.
