Mayor-elect Zohram Mamdani wants social workers, not police officers, to respond to 911 calls — but the controversial approach is already being tested in New York City, and it’s failing.
Early results from the B-HEARD program spell trouble for Mamdani’s proposed $1.1 billion Department of Community Safety (DCS), a signature initiative crafted with the help of his incoming chief of staff, Elle Bisgaard-Church. Launched in 2021 and limited to select neighborhoods, B-HEARD has struggled. A May audit by the city comptroller found that 60% of 911 calls were deemed ineligible, and more than 35% of eligible calls routed to mental-health teams never received a response.
“Calls were considered potentially dangerous, were ineligible because a mental health professional was already at the scene, or were unable to be triaged because FDNY EMS did not take the call or all necessary information could not be collected about the person in distress,” the comptroller’s office wrote in a news release at the time.
Between fiscal years 2022 and 2024, B-HEARD received 96,291 calls — but only 24,071 were answered by a “B-HEARD Team,” made up of two FDNY EMTs and one social worker.
Mayor-elect Mamdani aims to significantly expand the program, increasing its funding by 150% to deploy one response team in every neighborhood — and up to three in high-need areas. His plan would fold B-HEARD into the new Department of Community Safety, which his campaign says is designed to “fill the gaps” in existing city services.
“Its mission will be to prevent violence before it happens by taking a public health approach to safety,” the document reads.
B-HEARD currently operates only in parts of the Bronx, Upper Manhattan, central Brooklyn, and northwest Queens — and experts say scaling it citywide under the new DCS would require a major expansion in staff and resources. The plan would incorporate existing programs, such as B-HEARD, at a cost of $605 million, while seeking an additional $455 million in new funding.
Mamdani’s proposal has drawn backlash from law enforcement, with critics warning it could endanger both callers and the responders sent in place of police.
“The devil is in the details, and here the detail is implementation. The fact that the program is not reaching people does not tell me it’s unsuccessful; that is a matter of resources,” said Richard Aborn, president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City.
“But there are fundamental questions,” he said, mentioning the decision of when it’s suitable to send mental health professionals to 911 calls instead of law enforcement.
Political strategist Hank Sheinkopf scoffed at the idea of a new department entirely: “Exactly what New York doesn’t need: another government agency with an unmanageable bureaucracy. Domestic dispute calls can get violent… That’s the time when you need a social worker? He must be kidding.”
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