{"id":7881,"date":"2026-09-02T04:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T04:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7881"},"modified":"2026-09-02T04:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T04:14:15","slug":"mentally-ill-attacks-will-keep-happening-around-our-city-without-nypd-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=7881","title":{"rendered":"Mentally ill attacks will keep happening around our city without NYPD funding"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Monday\u2019s unprovoked knife attack in Times Square was \u201ca tragedy that will not soon be forgotten,\u201d says Tom Harris, head of the Times Square Alliance.<\/p>\n

Read more The surprising reasons why Tasers didn\u2019t stop crazed Times Square stabber<\/a><\/p>\n

Sadly, he\u2019s probably mistaken.<\/p>\n

How well do New Yorkers remember April\u2019s machete-slasher episode in Grand Central, or the stabbing of seven individuals in Penn Station in June?<\/p>\n

This city has a way of moving on from even the most horrific tragedies \u2014 and fast.<\/p>\n

Both of these incidents involved perpetrators with untreated serious mental illness, as did Monday\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Getting these individuals adequate treatment is therefore imperative.<\/p>\n

Without it, NYPD officers are forced to step in to keep New Yorkers, and the mentally ill themselves, safe.<\/p>\n

City Hall certainly forgot all that last budget season.<\/p>\n

Understaffed<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The fiscal year 2027 executive budget was published May 12, just 31 days after April\u2019s incident, and five days after an unstable Bellevue Hospital-discharged psych patient allegedly pushed a 76-year-old fatally down subway steps.<\/p>\n

Yet the budget proposed no new funding for serious mental illness \u2014 and in Mayor Mamdani\u2019s executive order creating the Office of Community Safety, serious mental illness is not mentioned.<\/p>\n

In June, within a month of the Penn Station stabbings, the city adopted its budget and kept the NYPD\u2019s funding essentially flat.<\/p>\n

No officer headcount could be added, despite Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch\u2019s hopes to hire 550 officers by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Multiple random attacks by people with untreated serious mental illness occurred, caused casualties \u2014 and were forgotten while the budget was being considered.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t inspire much confidence that Monday\u2019s tragedy will be any different.<\/p>\n

It could be: One of the best ways for the city to address random violence is to fund the NYPD.<\/p>\n

NYPD officers are exceptionally good at responding to untreated serious mental illness.<\/p>\n

Read more Putin vows to support Iran and resist US sanctions after meeting with regime leader<\/a><\/p>\n

This week\u2019s shooting was statistically rare: Officers respond to over 170,000 \u201cemotionally disturbed person\u201d calls annually, and police resolve 99% of incidents with no force whatsoever.<\/p>\n

In the 1% of cases where force is used, it\u2019s overwhelmingly nonlethal.<\/p>\n

As Monday demonstrated, when lethal response is used, it\u2019s overwhelmingly necessary.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in cases of force used against NYPD members, EDP incidents are the second most common.<\/p>\n

Officers are putting themselves in harm\u2019s way to protect New Yorkers; the least the city can do is hire more of them.<\/p>\n

Officers also initiate involuntary transports, bringing individuals who are a danger to themselves or others \u2014 like Monday\u2019s attacker \u2014 to hospitals for treatment, rather than jail.<\/p>\n

Money where mouth is<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Officers have initiated over 2,600 such transports since January, five times the number initiated by clinicians.<\/p>\n

The NYPD is facing a staffing crisis: The city had roughly 33,832 uniformed officers as of late 2025 and lost an average of 316 officers per month from retirements and resignations.<\/p>\n

Even Mamdani has had to recognize that his Office of Community Safety can\u2019t use mental health workers in all scenarios.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank the NYPD officers who stepped in and prevented a horrific attack from becoming even worse,\u201d Mamdani said during a press briefing on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThis is what the men and women of this department do every single day to keep our city safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor \u2014 and the City Council \u2014 should remember that observation come November, when next year\u2019s budget cycle begins, and come the fiscal year 2028 preliminary budget in January.<\/p>\n

But given how past incidents have been remembered, New Yorkers probably shouldn\u2019t hold their breath.<\/p>\n

Read more Newly single AOC reveals if being a Republican is a dating dealbreaker<\/a><\/p>\n

Carolyn D. Gorman is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday\u2019s unprovoked knife attack in Times Square was \u201ca tragedy that will not soon be forgotten,\u201d says Tom Harris, head of the Times Square Alliance. 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