At 2 a.m., a mother calls 911 because her adult son is panicking, shouting, and threatening to hurt himself. There’s no weapon. No crime. Just a family in crisis.
In New York City, that call almost always brings a police response. Not because officers are the best fit for the situation, but because they’re often the only option available. Officers do their best, but they’re being asked to handle a medical emergency with law-enforcement training. That isn’t fair to them, and it isn’t right for the person in crisis.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani is right to push the city to rethink how it responds to mental health emergencies. At the same time, critics have raised a valid concern: sending civilian teams into unpredictable situations without proper support can be dangerous. Safety matters – for residents and responders alike.
New York doesn’t need an all-or-nothing solution. It needs a co-responder model that puts clinical expertise alongside public safety from the very start. That’s where Virtual Crisis Care from Avel eCare comes in.
In a co-responder system, licensed, crisis-trained clinicians are immediately available via secure video or audio to support a 911 call. They can speak directly with the person in crisis, help de-escalate the situation, assess risk, and guide next steps – while coordinating with on-scene responders.
This model doesn’t replace police, EMS, or civilian teams. It supports them.
When a situation can be resolved clinically, it often is…without handcuffs, sirens, or an emergency room visit. When risk escalates, responders aren’t guessing; they have real-time clinical guidance and clear paths for escalation. That makes the response safer and more effective for everyone involved.
Right now, too many mental health calls end in outcomes nobody wants: traumatized families, injured responders, unnecessary hospitalizations, or arrests that solve nothing. Officers themselves have said they’re stretched thin responding to calls they were never trained to handle alone.
A co-responder approach recognizes a simple reality: mental health crises are unpredictable. Some can be resolved with conversation and clinical care. Others require a stronger public safety response. The key is having the right expertise involved early, not after a situation spirals.
Cities across the country are testing these models, and New York, with its scale and urgency, should be leading the way.
Reducing police involvement in mental health calls doesn’t mean reducing safety. When clinicians and responders work together from the first moment, it means more safety, better outcomes, and a system that treats mental illness as the health issue it is.
When New Yorkers call 911 in a mental health emergency, they deserve more than a one-size-fits-all response. They deserve a system built for the crisis they’re facing.
Because when a cry for help comes in, New York’s response should reflect both compassion and capability, and by partnering with Avel eCare we can support mental health crisis responses across the state…TOGETHER!