New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani pushes for a billion-dollar expansion of a failing social worker emergency response program that diverts only 16% of eligible crisis calls from police.
Story Snapshot
- NYC’s B-HEARD pilot program diverts just 16% of mental health crisis calls from police to social workers
- Mamdani proposes $1.1 billion expansion despite program’s operational failures and limited scope
- Current program operates only in select neighborhoods with staffing shortages and dispatch integration issues
- Critics warn against scaling up a system that has failed to meet basic performance expectations
Progressive Lawmaker Doubles Down on Failed Policy
Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani continues advocating for social workers to replace police in emergency response despite glaring evidence that New York City’s pilot program is failing miserably. The B-HEARD program, launched in 2021 as part of the progressive push to defund police, diverts only 16% of eligible mental health crisis calls to social worker teams. This abysmal performance rate exposes the dangerous gap between leftist ideology and real-world public safety needs that hardworking taxpayers depend on.
Pilot Program’s Operational Disasters Ignored
The B-HEARD program operates with severe limitations that demonstrate why government bureaucracy fails when lives are at stake. Teams work only in select neighborhoods during limited hours, creating dangerous coverage gaps across the city. Staffing shortages plague the initiative while dispatch integration remains broken, forcing most mental health emergencies back to police officers who lack specialized training. These operational failures represent exactly the kind of government incompetence that wastes taxpayer money while endangering public safety.
Billion-Dollar Boondoggle Threatens Public Safety
Mamdani’s $1.1 billion expansion proposal exemplifies the reckless spending that characterizes progressive governance. Rather than fixing the existing program’s fundamental flaws, he demands massive taxpayer funding to scale up a system that demonstrably cannot handle basic emergency response duties. This approach mirrors the failed logic that created our immigration crisis and inflation—throwing money at problems without addressing root causes or accountability measures.
The proposal reflects broader progressive attempts to dismantle law enforcement while offering inadequate alternatives. When criminals and mentally unstable individuals threaten communities, families need immediate, effective response—not social work theory experiments funded by their tax dollars. This dangerous ideology prioritizes political correctness over protecting innocent Americans from violence and chaos in their neighborhoods.
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Social workers to respond to mental health calls
