New Jersey senator proposes 911 mental health screening bill

Legislation would require dispatchers to ask if crises involve emotional or behavioral disorders.

A New Jersey lawmaker wants 911 operators to start asking callers whether an emergency involves someone with an emotional or behavioral disorder, a move intended to give cops and other first responders more information before they arrive on the scene.

Proposed last month by state Sen. Angela McKnight (D-Hudson), the bill, S-3929, would also make operators document every call involving someone suffering from such a disorder and, when practicable, check if a caller’s name, phone number, or address has been linked to a similar incident in the past.

McKnight, the lone sponsor, said this would help protect law enforcement, emergency service workers, and the people they’re meant to help.

“A lack of awareness can lead to tragedy,” McKnight told The Jersey Vindicator. “But when we arm our police officers with [knowledge] about what they’re getting into … If we can prevent just one tragedy by providing more information, that’s helpful to everyone.”

“Information is power,” she continued. “And information can save a person’s life. We want to make sure everyone goes home at night.”

If signed into law, the proposal would help address one of the great problems of the age for law enforcement, whose officers often blindly respond to calls about people enduring a mental health crisis.

Those encounters can quickly turn violent. For example, in 2020, two out of every three uses of force by New Jersey law enforcement involved a civilian suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues, the state attorney general’s office has said.

And over half of all police killings happened under similar circumstances.

“These numbers were and are unacceptable,” the attorney general’s website said. “When our system is structured so that the same armed officer responding to a robbery is also the government’s answer to the emergency call of a person in behavioral health crisis, it should come as no surprise that negative outcomes are possible, even likely.”

Sometimes, the ensuing encounter can be catastrophic, such as when the Paterson Police Department gunned down 31-year-old city resident Najee Seabrooks in March 2023.

Seabrooks, a violence intervention specialist, barricaded himself in a bathroom and told responding officers that he had two knives and a loaded gun. He thought people were trying to kill him; his family said he’d been hallucinating and behaving erratically.

After hours of negotiations, Seabrooks finally emerged. But then he lunged at one of the cops, a knife in his hand, and two officers shot him, the attorney general said.

The incident sent shockwaves through the community and prompted the attorney general’s office to take over the Paterson Police Department.

McKnight cited Seabrooks’ killing, as well as the 2023 fatal shooting of Andrew Washington in a similar encounter, as the inspiration for her bill.

“They were both shot by police officers during a mental health crisis,” she said. “This bill is just another way for us to be more proactive and better prepared. And also, to protect the people.”

But not everyone is happy with the proposal, which would also force every police department to keep a record of its responses to such calls for future reference.

Dr. Debra L. Wentz, president and CEO of the New Jersey Association of Mental Health & Addiction Agencies, worried that dispatchers aren’t properly trained to respond to mental health crisis calls.

And asking callers to reveal either their own mental health issues or those of someone else might violate privacy laws, she said.

“We can see the intention of the sponsor, who we like and respect,” Wentz said. “But we’re concerned that [the conversation] is recorded and goes down the line; I’m not sure how that dovetails with confidentiality regulations and the person’s rights.”

Other programs, such as ARRIVE Together, which pairs cops with mental health professionals and sends them on such calls, might be better positioned to provide help, she added.

But simply telling officers they’re responding to someone in crisis might not have the same effect.

“Even if they alert the police that this is what they’re going to find when they get there, they still might not know how to handle it,” Wentz said. “Instead of documenting it and just sending it directly to the police, why wouldn’t they go further and coordinate with ARRIVE Together or crisis intervention professionals?”

“I really applaud Sen. McKnight for wanting to address this,” she continued. “This is a good thought. But I think they need to go further to address it, and use existing resources and the appropriate people.”