Chair Cabán on Office of Community Safety structure and harm reduction

And then on the Office of Community Safety, you mentioned that the Office of Community Mental Health is going to be under this office.

What I want to know is, I mean, oftentimes we do hearings and the Office of Community Health doesn't want to come because they're like, we're just a coordinating agency and we can't really speak to a lot of these different things.

So if this coordinating office, this coordinating body is coming into the Office of Community Safety, are they going to be tasked with expanding their coordination or something?

Like, will they be designated?

the coordinating office for everything that's put under the Office of Community Safety.

We are all still super unclear on what the organizational structure is.

And if the Office of Community Mental Health is just a coordinating agency, what role are they playing?

Being put into, is the coordinating agency going to be coordinating with another coordinating agent?

Like, what are we doing here?

Yeah.

Well, let me simplify for the parts that we own.

So we are the local governmental unit, which is decreed by state law.

That means that we coordinate.

Mental health activities and mental health treatment for the city.

So that part is clear and that part is not changing.

In terms of what the Office of Community Safety will do, we're going to have to get back to you with some details on that as things are still very much in the early stages now.

So at the moment,

you can expect us to continue to be the coordinating agency with regard to mental health care in the city.

Another question I have is also, you know, we didn't see this in the briefings that we got on the office, but one glaring absence, I think, in what was being considered as sort of within the scope of work of this office.

Was harm reduction.

And it didn't really make sense to me that that was something that wasn't being included in the office.

So I would like to know what those conversations have been like.

Are y'all pushing to have harm reduction work integrated into

The Office of Community Safety?

Yeah, I can maybe just kick things off and hand it over to Dr.

Petit.

You know, from our perspective, you know, the work of harm reduction is a key core function of what we do at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

And that's not going to change.

We don't have any current plans to stop doing that harm reduction work.

Okay.

Yeah, thank you for that.

That's what I find concerning because it's literally not in the model that has been proposed to us.

So that's, yeah.

I just wanted to put a finer point on sort of our role as a local government unit.

We have, you know, responsibility for overseeing, planning, and funding mental health, substance use, and developmental disabilities.

It's through state, you know, mental hygiene law 9 and 41.

So our true responsibility is to ensure that in New York City that all those services are coordinated and planned for accordingly based on need.

So we will continue to do that as the executive deputy commissioner.

That is my primary responsibility to make sure that.

Yeah, I mean, I would hope to see some updated sort of metrics and goals that include harm reduction because those metrics and goals have been shared with us and exist across these different areas, but not on that front.

So that's helpful.

The last thing I'll say in the Office of Public Community Safety is I think we're all a little bit concerned about how it's coming together.

We found out, I think, earlier in the week or last week that NYPD had their first conversation with, you know, this division.

you know, talking to offices around the country, and those, and the conversation with my PDs, those are the first ones.

Like, it's only successful when they're at the table in the beginning.

So, just hoping that there can be more coordination on that front.

And I know that that's not you guys, but I want to go to mobile treatment teams.