The “dangerous” mentally ill will no longer walk the streets of New York

The New York authorities showed this Tuesday their determination to transfer by force to psychiatric centers people with "severe mental illness" who may pose a danger to others and to themselves or who are not capable of procuring the basic needs to survive.

To do this, they have just published a circular with the steps that medical personnel, firefighters and security agents must take when they meet a person who they consider to have these characteristics and who refuse to go voluntarily to a hospital to determine if you need to receive medication or be hospitalized.

In New York "a common misunderstanding persists that we cannot provide forcible assistance unless the person is violent, suicidal, or presents a risk of imminent harm"New York Mayor Eric Adams said today during the announcement of the new campaign.

The mayor insisted that such a belief was a "myth" and added that the city will do all "possible efforts to help those with mental illness and whose illness endangers them by preventing them from meeting their own basic needs".

With the arrival of winter, many homeless seek refuge in the subway stations, where in recent months there have been violent incidents and several murders that have had a great impact on citizens and for which many blame the homeless.

Since becoming mayor, Adams has focused much of his efforts on fighting crime and delinquency and on strengthening the role and presence of the Police.

The city has already launched several initiatives to try to address the problem of the presence of homeless people with mental illnesses on the streets of the city, such as last May when it began a pilot project to try to put mentally ill people in contact with centers where they could receive attention.