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Crime

The New York Police Dept. Plans to Purge Mentally Ill From Streets

Feb. 18, 2013 8:31pm Mytheos Holt

In the wake of the shootings at Newtown, the argument for increased mental health services and a regimen more tolerant of involuntary commitment briefly enjoyed a renaissance. However, until now, no city had actually gone out and tried implementing such a regimen. New York City apparently wants to be the first.

The New York Post reports on the city’s plan to create a “roundup plan” for those found to be mentally ill:

The city is making a major push to sweep the streets of dangerous, mentally ill New Yorkers — and has even compiled a most-wanted list, The Post has learned.

The measure follows a pair of high-profile subway-shove fatalities from December allegedly involving mentally ill individuals.

The city has already drawn up a list of 25 targets, sources said.[...]

Cops in the NYPD’s Real Time Crime Center are using high-tech methods to first track down the individuals, and detectives on the street have been assigned to then go after them and take them to hospitals, law-enforcement sources said.

In the past, the city Department of Health would ask cops for help finding mentally ill people who aren’t taking their court-mandated meds so they could be taken to clinics. But that only applied to those who had known addresses — and patients who went off the grid were rarely pursued, the sources said.

The city is now concerned it could be liable if one of those people goes off the rails and hurts someone — or themselves, the sources said.

And that’s prompted the Health Department to seek more help from the NYPD.

The process apparently involves the issuance of a special brand of warrant, which allows police to arrest individuals, even if those individuals are not suspects in a crime, simply for not showing up to court-ordered therapy. The process is almost certain to draw fire from civil libertarians, but given the circumstances, NYC’s government seems unlikely to relent.

The two incidents that precipitated this call for a crackdown on mental illness both involved people suffering from disorders of varying strengths pushing innocents into the paths of oncoming Subway trains. The first involved homeless man Naeem Davis, who claimed varying different motives for his act (shoving a complete stranger onto the tracks), including everything from voices in his head telling him to do it to being angry about the loss of a favorite pair of boots.

New York City Police Will Arrest Mentally Ill For Not Attending Court Ordered Therapy

Naeem Davis (right) stands trial (Photo Credit: AP)

The other case has sparked a good deal more controversy. The assailant, one Erika Menendez, specifically targeted an Iranian man due to motives that could charitably be described as “misguided.” From the Daily Mail report at the time:

Menendez admitted shoving Sunando Sen, 46, in front of a Queens 7 Train Thursday, telling police, ‘I’ve hated Hindus and Muslims since 2001 since they put down the Twin Towers. I have been beating them up since.’

Hindus had no hand in the destruction of the Twin Towers.

Erika Menendez led away by police (Photo Credit: Reuters)

Menendez suffers from bipolar disorder, a disorder that in the vast majority of cases does not provoke those suffering from it to commit murder. Nevertheless, her apparent bigotry combined with the disorder made a lethal mix.

One difficulty that the NYPD reportedly face in implementing the city’s new plan is the fact that many of the mentally ill — especially the homeless — do not stay in one place, but rather wander the city. This certainly was the case with Naeem Davis, and given the nature of the murders that prompted this new policy, the existence of transportation options for the mentally ill is an especially live topic.

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Comments (118)

LouisianaPatriot
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:25pm
I smell Eugenics in the works. This is how they did it last time.

It will start with the severely mentally ill. Then move to the moderately mentally ill. Then move at a pretty fast to “political enemies.” Men will be sterilized, women will be sterilized, people will disappear. Or we may just move to the Chinese method of gathering these folks to harvest their organs to sell to the highest bidder.

I am not against involuntary commitment of violent or dangerous people, in very clear cases, but handled with utmost care and respect for the Bill of Rights.

I am also not against very mentally ill people living out their lives in mental institutions, but only if those institutions are humane and monitored by principled people. Private and Religious society needs to play a role in the care of those folks.

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- Advection
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:35pm
  Well said.
  
  Report this comment
- GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:40pm
  First, they came for Encinom, and I didn’t speak out because I was not an idiot….
  Then, they came for YourSensei, and I didn’t speak out because I was not an imbecile….
  Then, They came for The Jerk, and I didn’t speak out because I was not a stupid racist….
  ……
  
  Report this comment
- Gold Coin & Economic News
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:51pm
  Purge the mentally ill from the streets? They could start by purging the mentally ill Mayor Bloomberg from his perch of chief idiot:
  http://www.isthatbaloney.com/a-list-of-mass-shootings-that-did-not-happen-in-america-for-new-york-mayor-bloomberg/
  
  Report this comment
- The_Almighty_Creestof
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:10pm
  “Soylent Green…it’s PEOPLE!”
  ~Charlton Heston
  
  ———————————
  As far as getting “mentally ill” people off of the street in NY…I thought all of their politicians were chauffered?
  
  Report this comment
- Magyar
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:11pm
  I was wondering when they’d get to Eugenics. They’re following the same plan as Adolph…
  
  Report this comment
- The_Almighty_Creestof
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:14pm
  I note with some dark humor, that Nareem –who spontaneously shoved a man onto the tracks with a subway car bearing down upon them– is wearing a sweatshirt by Nike…whose tagline has been “Just do it!”
  
  Report this comment
- 13th Imam
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:15pm
  Then they came for me
  I was waiting with my 30-30.
  
  Report this comment
- civilwarcometh
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:16pm
  We were warned 50 yeas ago..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqkNJ0mXsUY Ronald Reagan can explain it to you…
  
  Report this comment
- Uriel
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:20pm
  It’s just the transhumanists getting their first wish granted.
  
  Report this comment
- SUNTZU
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:32pm
  One way bus ticket to L.A.
  
  Report this comment
- flyoverbob
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:37pm
  Well at least Bloomberg will be gone.
  
  Report this comment
- thegreatcarnac
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:53pm
  GBT……..that’s funny!
  
  Report this comment
- Libertarian
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 11:58pm
  @louisianapatriot,
  
  Agreed. Involuntary committals are a violation of ones’ right to due process. Help can be administered voluntarily, but if a person has not committed a crime and they do not want to be committed then they should be free. Give a liberal an inch and they will take a mile, look at the said 20,000 involuntary committals in the state of Virginia.
  
  Great post.
  
  Report this comment
- tonypro
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 2:26am
  Yepp,
  
  The ever expanding police state, with the same old crap that it’s for our own good lies.
  
  ……..and let us not forget N. asty Y. uck is run by the U.N. This is important to remember IMO.
  
  @LouisianaPatriot you are correct..
  
  Report this comment
- AbrahamsSheepdog
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 2:49am
  Purge Government. So many to but the Salezar’s are a good start.
  
  Report this comment
- mikem1969
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 6:30am
  They need to start with the politicians in NY. Then most of the mental illness would go away. PEOPLE, WAKE UP, DEATH CAMPS ARE COMING BE READY.
  
  RESIST TYRANNY LOUDLY.
  
  Report this comment
- johnpaulkuchtajr
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 6:53am
  Hey LAPatriot,
  
  You sound like a guy we’d embrace in our organization. Please go to http://www.oathkeepers.org and see if it’s for you. You have to be a patriot to join; but, you don’t have to have been a policeman or service member. It may be of major comfort to know that you’re among like-linded folks soon.
  
  Keeping the faith in VA, but I’m LSU ’73.
  
  “Remember Benghazi and ALL the Traitors!”
  
  Report this comment
- G-WHIZ
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 11:22am
  Many years-ago N.Y. KICKED-OUT THE MENTALLY-ILL OUTA JAILS AND INSTITUTIONS CAUSE THEY COST TOOOOO MUCH!! Now they want them back -in!! TAXPAYERS FORCED TO PAY TO REMOVE THEM and now they walla have them FORCE-PAY TO PUT’EM BACK!!
  
  Report this comment
- mernijo
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 11:47am
  I agree with your comment. Some mentally ill people are dangerous, yes, because they don’t take their medications. They need to be humanely institutionalized; they don’t remember to take their medications or they don’t want to do it. Once they could be treated correctly their thinking would be different and their outlook would be “normalized”. Some people could be released into society once more with a healthier attitude and outlook on things.
  
  My family member is bipolar and after some years is doing very well on the medications that they are now using. It took time to find the right balance but I am grateful for their patience to hang on.
  
  There are different kinds of mental illness out there. The difficult decision of where to draw the line in the “round-ups” lay in the hands of . . . ?
  
  Report this comment
Jake Dog2
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:17pm
Involuntary comment is a state responsibility that falls into their mental health regulations. The reason that regulations where needed was to protect from individuals from being involuntarily committed. Before any regulations a husband, wife, son, or daughter could get a friendly doctor to comment a relative because they wanted them out of the way i.e. a husband comments a wife to avoid a divorce
The regulation are/where to comment people with mental illness if they are a danger to self .others or gravely disabled( unable to care for self) with legal oversite.
Now because the of the ACLU and costs factors They have gone the other way. State housing of the mentaly ill was done away with and they are mostly housed in small contracted facilities with has no power to force them to take their medication. Now people with a mental illness are left on their own for the most part.
Sorry that was so long.

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- Jake Dog2
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:28pm
  After reading other post.
  Yes the police have no idea how to handle people with mental illness or developmentally disabled.
  Club or shot first find out later.
  
  Report this comment
Advection
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:14pm
…which answers the question, “Where is Obama going to get all the brains for his massive new study?”

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GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:12pm
If you really mean it, please pay a visit to the Governor’s office and the UN….asap!

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wilbstal
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:12pm
These folks are not the shooters its the Video Game Players. what a smoke screen Cuomo

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OldSurfRat
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:11pm
Better hide WANGO

They be hunting you!

It is So!

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- Walkabout
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:39pm
  Nice :)
  
  Report this comment
fiveisenough
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:09pm
“Cops in the NYPD’s Real Time Crime Center are using high-tech methods to first track down the individuals”.
possibly face recognition technology. Maybe a test. My concern is who is determining the meaning of “mentally ill”, and where does it end.

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- Advection
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:16pm
  Scientific skepticism and conservative thought have already been said to be signs of mental illness. I’m not joking.
  
  Report this comment
- DefyTYRANNY
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:29pm
  Advection – I know. That’s why I’ve been telling everyone I know to be wary of this line of thinking.
  
  Report this comment
- Exrepublisheep
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:01pm
  The police don’t determine, the courts do. they may scoop up individuals who avoid court ordered treatment. Same as parolees.
  
  Report this comment
wilbstal
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:09pm
Round up plan hmmm next all Gun Owners then after that those who dare speak out. hmmm you filks better contain this idiot Goevernor you all voted for… recall the A Hole

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- Max jones
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 10:46pm
  wilbstal HOW?
  
  Report this comment
45Cal
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:09pm
They should have Nanny Bloomberg number one on that list.

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wilbstal
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:07pm
NY is so Communist now take folks off the street with out Due process, hmmm well why not they took all your Guns while you all watched. Cuomo the **** face of NY

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nomemymine
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:06pm
You all will beat-up on me now, but I actually agree with Nanny Bloomberg. The mentally ill people on the street are scary.

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SpankDaMonkey
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:03pm
.
That is the whole damn city!!!!! Where the hell they gonna put then?…..

Ok Uncle Spank has a plan, we just load the whole bunch of them on cargo planes and send them to Egypt, Iraq & Afganastain. And I’ll guarantee we won’t miss not a one of them……

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asybot12
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:00pm
The City has already identified 25 “targets” remember Mrs Palin getting vilified for using that word?
We have a son with paranoid schizophrenia They have a pretty hard time making him a “target” over my dead body!

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needanotherReagan
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:56pm
How about purging the mentally ill from congress.

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- Advection
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:28pm
  How about removing the mentally ill from the White House? Oh wait, too late. They removed Narcissistic Personality Disorder from the medical manual after Obama was elected!
  
  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/narcissism-no-longer-a-psychiatric-disorder/
  
  Everyone should Google the words “Obama and Narcissistic Personality Disorder”. It explains his bizarre behaviors.
  
  Report this comment
- christhefanatic
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 12:42am
  Adviction@ …or google “Robert Hare’s PCL-R”…and think”Obama”.
  
  Report this comment
- christhefanatic
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 12:57am
  Sorry…that’s Advection.
  
  Report this comment
- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on February 19, 2013 at 2:16am
  Hopefully, they’ll start in the Mayor’s office and go from there.
  
  Report this comment
Zipit
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:56pm
Much like Fast and Furious, Nanny Bloomberg can have an undercover NYPD task force conspire with soup kitchens and select convienance stores, to put the “highly illegal” and sought after “BIG GULPS” into the hands of these so called mentally ill people.

Tracking chips can be conspicuously hidden in the ice cubes contained in the drink itself, and when enough of these vial killing machines have been put on the street, following and finding out where these people congregate for nefarious purposes, and arresting them should be a snap! What could possibly go wrong?

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AMERICA4EVER
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:56pm
Sounds like an action that could be really abused.

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- GBTVFan_Non_American_Overseas
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:27pm
  We use to joke about many things about the government control….but seriously, this kind of things is the beginning of future abuses upon the people. The key word is: Control. Very soon they will be able to take away your freedom (Because you were labeled insane), your assets (Because some stupid Executive Order that already exists), your guns (Very soon), your kids (Remember you are unfit or mentally ill), etc. Just 10 years or less of this garbage, and your country will be there. NYC is like the small version, their little social experiment, and they are going to squeeze the city until the last drop of freedom…and the hippies will celebrate their new shiny chains!!!!
  
  Report this comment
chips1
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:50pm
Bloomberg. If they really mean it, New York is going to need another primary.

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- Witness1974
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:37pm
  I was going to say, they already did this; they elected him mayor.
  
  But you beat me to it.
  
  Report this comment
DefyTYRANNY
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:49pm
How dare they not take their court ordered meds!

I predict that any who “do not comply” will be deemed mentally ill by court appointed doctors and be rounded up immediately.

This is way beyond slippery slope guys. I have been watching even conservatives play along with this “Mental Health” narrative for months now. I have posted warnings, but no one seems to get it.

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CulperGang
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:45pm
Cool………..start with Ray Kelly and Bloomdouche.

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smojet
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:44pm
This article uses pretty inflammatory language for what New York is trying to do, and I by no means trust New York’s government to do anything properly. But having lived in downtown Chicago, it was clear that a majority of the homeless I met on the streets had some form of mental illness, and it didn’t seem like the city was handling the situation well by just leaving them to suffer. If conservatives could actually run a major city for a change, what would we do about this problem? Leave things as they are?

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GoodStuff
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:44pm
Don’t forget folks…it was the ACLU and the Democrat party that shut down most of the mental hospitals in the 70′s. Now you know why are streets are filled with crazies.

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- Shasta
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:00pm
  Don’t forget that when Ronald Regan was governor of California, he closed the mental hospitals and the patients were put out in the street. He did it to balance the state’s budget.
  
  Report this comment
- bonesiii
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:07pm
  Indeed. I’ve actually been hoping something like this would finally be done. I didn’t dare to think it really would, though. Interesting turn of events.
  
  Of course, there’s always the risk of abuse. I.e. if you put certain atheopaths in charge right now, according to their inflammatory statements, they might try to round up all the religious due to being “insane” (or maybe just we biblical creationists lol). Still… there really is a danger to other people that letting the truly insane roam around freely causes and IMO fixing this is consistent with conservatism. We shouldn’t be so afraid of the possibility of abuse that we neglect our responsibilty to these individuals, as well as anyone they might hurt. (Besides, if the abusive get into full power, they’ll trample over any of our rules anyways.)
  
  Report this comment
AUsername
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:44pm
our police are just like their nazi ancestors towards the mentally ill wow.

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OldSurfRat
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:39pm
Sending them to South Park

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progressiveslayer
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:38pm
NYC rounding up the mentally ill? LMAO Talk about depopulating a city.

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- OldSurfRat
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:45pm
  Might be a great time to visit. Traffic should be cut in half.
  Hey wont that also empty the UN??
  
  Report this comment
- chips1
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:54pm
  If you visit New York, rent a yellow car. They are exempt from traffic laws.
  
  Report this comment
- OldSurfRat
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:00pm
  Chips
  
  And English
  
  Report this comment
- EODGhost
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:24pm
  LOL. The Un might have to forcibly relocate then. Fine by me, they shouldn’t have a HQ here in the first place. France will take them so long as they can tax them 75%
  
  Report this comment
- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 18, 2013 at 9:28pm
  PROGRESSIVESLAYER, I could enjoy the rest of my life if I never had to return to NYC. LOL, as far as that goes San Francisco, LA, Chicago, Boston, and a few other places, but those are other stories. I have to agree with you though, an operation like that would eventually make the streets look like they are in a post apocalyptic movie. With Doomberg there still, that makes it really scary. Now that it is 2013, you have to wonder what new name they will give to the Soylent Green?
  
  Report this comment
electroencephalographic
Posted on February 18, 2013 at 8:35pm
Here we go.

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