A Message from the Public AdvocateFriends and fellow New Yorkers, Public safety is not a political talking point to be weaponized, and mental health crises are not to be demonized – these are issues that demand real, informed solutions. For New Yorkers to both be safe and feel safe, it’s vital to treat mental crises as a public health issue, and respond as such, rather than a criminal issue with a law enforcement response. In October of 2019, my office released a report which was both a condemnation of the city’s mental health crisis response and a guide for restructuring and reforming those systems. This report was informed by conversations with and the work of mental health and justice advocates, and was crafted in response to the number of avoidable deaths at the hands of an inadequate, insufficiently trained crisis response system. Since then, progress on this issue has been frustratingly slow – in some ways, the City has gone backwards. In the three years since our initial report, that urgency has not been evident in the actions taken by the administration. The impacts of the pandemic on both our individual and collective mental health, the trauma incurred, have only heightened the need for systemic reform to holistically address this crisis as an issue of health, rather than simply law enforcement. Last week, our office released a new review of the city’s progress toward meeting this issue, the areas in which it has moved backward, and new recommendations to meet the current moment – you can read the review here. My office and I are eager to engage with both the administration and communities across our city in order to re-center and re-imagine mental health responses in our city. It is our responsibility now to realize the reforms needed and the urgency of action, to prevent more suffering and loss. In Advocacy, Jumaane D. Williams | 
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