Christine Henson's Testimony to City Council on Public Safety & Mental Health

My name is Christine Henson. I am the mother of Andrew Henson, who is affected by autism and limited speech abilities. When he was 16, Andrew was assaulted by the NYPD. 

It is disappointing that Mayor Mamdani’s executive budget invests approximately $12B in the NYPD, increases the officer headcount by 580, and increases funding to the failed B-HEARD program while failing to make real investments in services New Yorkers need. 

In 2018, I requested a speech evaluation at Andrew’s school, and the principal referred us to BronxCare. The principal told me there would be transportation, but I wasn’t told it would be an ambulance. When we got outside, the street was blocked off and filled with police. There were officers from two different precincts and, surprisingly, they followed us to BronxCare.

When we arrived at BronxCare, Andrew pointed to a store. When we started to walk, the EMT grabbed Andrew’s arm and said “You are not going anywhere”. I told him we came voluntarily. Within seconds, multiple NYPD officers rushed over, grabbing Andrew’s arms and forcing them behind his neck. His neck was choked and twisted. His body went limp. Then he was forced into the waiting area, where his face was pressed down into a seat.  His arm was bent aggressively and his screams were disregarded. He cried out, “Mom!”, and I said “he has special needs” but I was ignored. Police don’t need to respond to mental health and health calls, especially for people with Autism.

My son was just hungry. He was in no way a threat. But instead of being treated with care, the NYPD, EMTs, and hospital security violently escalated against him. Andrew has regressed and his independence has been altered because of the police. They destroyed a part of his life. 

The NYPD should not be responding to people with developmental or mental health concerns AT ALL. Until our city moves away from criminalization and meaningfully invests in trauma-informed, evidence-based services for people like Andrew, the most vulnerable New Yorkers will continue to be endangered by NYPD violence.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised to move away from the city’s historically harmful police-first approach to responding to people with developmental, mental health and substance use needs, and he said the Office of Community Safety is going to help do this. However, based on the Executive Order that created it, OCS is not doing anything to reduce police involvement or increase services for the people it is supposedly supposed to serve.

The emphasis on expanding and increasing funding for the failed B-HEARD pilot program is extremely worrying. B-HEARD fails to follow best practices for crisis response, over-relies on traumatizing involuntary hospitalizations, and manages only a small fraction of mental health calls. Just last week, NYPD Commissioner Tisch testified that B-HEARD responded to less than 8% of potentially eligible calls – leaving the vast majority of New Yorkers in need of care with only police responses. Expanding B-HEARD risks further entrenching NYPD in mental health response rather than removing them.

On top of this, the mayor’s executive budget pours approximately $12 billion dollars into the NYPD, (including its expense budget, debt services, benefits and pensions) and funds 580 new officers - even though, on the campaign trail Mamdani promised to keep officer headcount flat. At the same time, outside of B-HEARD, he proposes to make almost no new investments in mental health services. In other words, his executive budget follows the same old trends that we saw with Eric Adams.

If the City Council truly cares about New Yorkers’ safety, dignity and health, you will pass a City budget that cuts Mamdani’s proposed 580 new officers, implements a hiring freeze for school police, eliminates funding for vacant school police positions, further reduces the NYPD’s bloated budget, and eliminates funding increases to B-HEARD so that resources can be channeled into services that actually increase safety and well-being for New Yorkers who need care. Some of these services include:

1. At least $66.3M, baselined, for Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams – $22M more than the Executive Budget allocates, which should allow the program to expand sufficiently to eliminate the current waitlist.

2. At least $23.8M, baselined, for Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) – $4.5M more than the Executive Budget allocates.

3. At least $6M, baselined, for Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) – $2M more than the Executive Budget allocates), which provide both mental health and reentry services to people returning from jail and prison.

4. At least $8.8M, baselined, for crisis respite centers – $6M more than the Executive Budget allocates,  which should enable the opening of four new centers, in compliance with Local Law 118-2023.

5. $20.3M to establish at least 150 units of low-barrier housing for people with court-involvement and mental health diagnoses.

6. At least $12M, baselined, for Restorative Justice that is funded by City dollars. $6M of this funding was baselined in the FY26 budget. The remaining $6M expires in June. NYC Public Schools must be safe, welcoming spaces where young people can grow, learn, resolve conflict and navigate challenges.

Thank you for your attention. We would like to see our concerns considered and implemented.