The NYPD says the latest 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 house 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 means of the creation of a brand new Division of Group Security that strikes such encounters away from police and to psychological well being employees.
However an evaluation by THE CITY of current efforts — in addition to the sequence of occasions that led to Chakraborty’s capturing — point out that even with extra psychological well being employees, police might proceed to be referred to as on as first responders within the overwhelming majority of instances.
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 advised 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 harm anybody. She mentioned Chakraborty had thrown glass at a wall, however not at any particular particular person, and he or she requested an “involuntary transport” through ambulance to a hospital.
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 employees.
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, considered one 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 Group Security.
At an unrelated press convention this week, Mamdani made a degree of mentioning the proposed company, saying it goals “to construct a psychological well being system rooted in prevention, and sustained care, and an actual disaster response, so officers not must deal with these conditions alone.”
The mayor didn’t present particulars on who will run it and the way it will function, however he mentioned he has instructed his group “to hurry up this work.” Mamdani additionally mentioned the police appeared to have acted appropriately on this case. He visited Chakraborty within the hospital and requested the Queens District Lawyer, who’s investigating the incident, to not file prices towards him.
Lowering 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 Group Security. A central aspect of that effort will likely be an enlargement of a group of educated clinicians often known 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 a couple of precincts and expanded through the years to 31 precincts.
Mamdani plans to place B-HEARD groups beneath the Division of Group Security umbrella, develop it to all 78 precincts and improve its funding, which has been flat at $35 million over the past three years, by 150%. General he estimates the brand new group security division will value $1 billion yearly.
Whether or not this dramatic enlargement of B-HEARD will really cut back the variety of police interactions with individuals 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 problem, the dispatcher patches in EMS employees to consult with the caller about what they’re witnessing. This triage group asks a collection of questions to find out if there’s a possible for violence, then comes to a decision about whether or not police are required.
A evaluate by THE CITY of 911 name knowledge from 2024 by means of 2026 in B-HEARD precincts discovered that the overwhelming majority of 911 psychological well being calls resulted in a police response — as a substitute of a scientific one. What’s extra, the share of calls ending in police responses has been growing, from 73% in fiscal 12 months 2024, to 85.5% in 2025, to 86.4% in fiscal 12 months 2026 up to now.
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 name” [emotionally disturbed person], as a result of the dispatcher couldn’t decide whether or not there was a threat of violence. That designation additionally routinely triggers a police response.
In precincts with out B-HEARD applications, cops reply to almost 100% of psychological well being calls. Inside the B-HEARD precincts, simply 14% of calls in 2026 to this point ended with psychological well being employees being dispatched.
A spokesperson for Appropriate Disaster Intervention Right now (CCIT), which advocates for adjustments to the way in which first responders deal with psychological well being calls, advised THE CITY, “The info exhibiting that 911 dispatchers route the overwhelming majority of psychological well being disaster calls to police, even in B-HEARD precincts, underscore a core drawback that enlargement of B-HEARD alone is not going to repair.”
Liz Glazer, previously head of the Mayor’s Workplace of Felony Justice throughout de Blasio’s tenure and now writer of Important Metropolis, an city coverage publication, nervous that Mamdani could also be overrelying on B-HEARD within the formation of his Division of Group Security.
“He’s centered on B-HEARD, that there needs to be a giant enlargement, and that in some way will fulfill the necessity. But when B-HEARD is it and if civilian intervention is the main focus, that’s extremely restricted and partial and doesn’t acknowledge the complexity and the period of this problem,” she advised THE CITY. “What’s essential is that any civilian response is linked to a system that’s coordinated from finish to finish, which means from 911 or outreach to ideally housing and companies.”
One of many challenges for the Division of Group Security would be the essential function dispatchers play in deciding whether or not to steer psychological well being calls to civilian clinicians, EMS or the police.
“There are issues all alongside the way in which,” Glazer mentioned. “What’s the factors for deciding when it goes to a civilian group or when it goes to the police. The components default to police as a result of they don’t know if there’s going to be a necessity for police or not.”
In Chakraborty’s case, the household particularly advised the operator he was not violent and that they wished an ambulance. In a press release launched Wednesday after the NYPD posted the physique digicam footage of the capturing and audio of the 911 name, the household mentioned the decision makes clear “the scenario was calm when the decision was made, and we have been on the brink of go to accompany Jabez” to the hospital.
Viewing the body-cam footage “takes us again to that horrible second after we have been making an attempt to get medical take care of him and as a substitute NYPD officers arrived,” the household assertion mentioned.
They charged that the presence of the officers “prompted the scenario to escalate rapidly and unnecessarily.”
“That is why officers shouldn’t be responding to medical assist calls,” the household asserted.
Rozario Capturing
Chakraborty’s case additionally recollects 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 believe my son is on medication and is performing mad erratic.” The dispatcher received the deal with from the mom however then the decision lower off.
The dispatcher referred to as again, and it seems Rozario himself answered the decision and advised her “No” when she requested in the event that they’d requested the police. The dispatcher however despatched two cops to the deal with.
Once they entered the house, Rozario was standing within the kitchen together with his mom and youthful brother. When he noticed the cops, Rozario picked up a pair of scissors from a drawer and commenced to method 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 Lawyer 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 group psychological well being, if a B-HEARD group 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, “as a result of the topic of the 911 name was mentioned to be ‘on medication’ the decision was ineligible for a B-HEARD response.”
The invoice to develop B-HEARD and create the Division of Group 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 deal with whether or not the brand new company is duplicative of current bureaucracies, and the way to make sure the security of each individuals experiencing a disaster and first responders.
“This drawback is advanced, and I stay up for exploring the various concepts that may assist resolve these challenges,” mentioned Councilmember Oswald Feliz, D-Bronx, chair of the committee. “We should do all the pieces to assist New Yorkers going through psychological well being challenges.”
Further reporting by Haidee Chu.
