20Training crisis

NYPD misses goal in handling psych woes

The city has trained only 9,889 officers in crisis intervention training as of June, more than two years after an elderly, mentally ill woman was shot to death — and despite previously saying 23,000 officers would be trained by 2018.

The data was revealed in the Mayor’s Management Report — which showed that 4,018 were trained in the last fiscal year, ending on June 30, bringing the total to 9,889 since fiscal year 2015.

The training is meant to help officers more safely respond to mental health crises — like the case of Deborah Danner, 66, a schizophrenic woman shot to death by an NYPD sergeant as she swung a baseball bat at him.

When advocates for the mentally ill called on the city to reinstate a special task force on the anniversary of the death of Danner (photo) in 2017, a City Hall spokeswoman noted the progress made on crisis intervention training — and told the Daily News in writing that all 23,000 patrol officers would be trained by 2018.

Asked today about that deadline, the spokeswoman said she had misspoke in 2017 and that only supervisors would be trained by the close of 2018, and all officers by 2024.

While the spokeswoman said the city was on track to meet that goal, it’ll be tough to measure. In the Mayor’s Management Report, the goals for how many officers should have been trained in fiscal 2018 is listed as an asterisk, meaning there is no numerical goal. The training goal for the next fiscal year is also listed as an asterisk.

Meanwhile, crime spiked last fiscal year at 15 public housing developments targeted by the city with extra police, anti-crime lights and social programs, the data show.

The number of major crimes at the 15 hot spot projects jumped from 759 in fiscal 2017 to 778 in fiscal 2018, the report also revealed.

That’s down from the 867 in fiscal 2014 when de Blasio launched his Mayor’s Action Plan aimed at reversing the rising crime at the 15 developments city-wide.

But it shows the difficulty in keeping criminal activity in developments prone to crime, with major crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and assault rising after years of trending downward.

Starting in 2014, de Blasio’s Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice implemented a strategy aimed at keeping the numbers dropping. NYPD added cops, while NYCHA set up high-powered light towers on darkened pathways, installed high-tech “layered access” systems in building entry doors, and added hours and programs to youth and community centers. And still the numbers rose.