A proposed City Council resolution calls on the state legislature to pass a pending bill that would ensure policies and procedures for student mental health crisis become part of schools’ safety plans, with the aim of minimizing police intervention. The measure, introduced by Queens Councilmember Tiffany Cabán, cites “a May 2023 investigation by THE CITY and ProPublica,” which “found that New York City schools continue to call on safety agents and other police officers to manage students in distress thousands of times each year” despite a Department of Education regulation that requires schools to deescalate crisis situations.
With the ProPublica Local Reporting Network, THE CITY investigation revealed that in more than 1,300 incidents documented by the NYPD since 2017, students ended up in handcuffs while they waited for an ambulance to arrive, with some as young as 5 or 6 years old.