Alongside 911, the county runs a Crisis Prevention and Response Team that can send trained mental health responders instead of, or together with, police. It is one of the most useful county services almost nobody knows the number for.
Westchester County's Department of Community Mental Health publishes a short list of crisis routes that every household in District 11 should know, and it is worth stating them plainly.
The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline takes calls, texts and chat, and routes people to local resources. The county's own Crisis Prevention and Response Team is listed at (914) 925-5959. The New York State Substance Abuse HOPEline is (877) 8-HOPENY, or text 467369. In any immediate emergency, the number is still 911.
The county also partners with local providers to run Mobile Crisis Response Teams, which can respond alongside law enforcement to help stabilise someone in a mental health crisis, de-escalate on scene, and connect them to care rather than defaulting to an arrest or an emergency room.
Why this matters in District 11: a mental health crisis is not a policing problem, but it becomes one when the only number anybody knows is 911. Making these routes genuinely well known — on refrigerators, in school newsletters, in senior centres — is cheap, and it is the kind of thing county government should be doing relentlessly.
The Community Safety & Quality of Life survey asks whether trained mental health responders should accompany police on crisis calls. Tell the campaign what you think.