Creates an incident reporting system within the NYC health and hospital corporation for the purpose of tracking the behavior patterns of the mentally incompetent and of alcohol and substance abusers.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3127
2013-2014 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 30, 2013
___________
Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Cities
AN ACT to amend the New York city health and hospitals corporation act,
in relation to the creation of a corporation incident reporting system
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. In New York city, the number of
2 individuals with psychiatric disabilities, and/or alcohol or substance
3 abuse problems has rapidly increased in the last several years. Police
4 officers and peace officers alike encounter these individuals on a daily
5 basis. In 1988, the New York city police department began implementation
6 of what has been widely recognized as the Police Mental Health Training
7 Project. This project was designed to instruct officers in how to prop-
8 erly respond to the mentally incompetent. While this project has proven
9 an effective tool for police officers, peace officers assigned to health
10 care facilities where a vast majority of individuals with psychiatric
11 disabilities and/or those exhibiting signs of alcohol or substance abuse
12 are found, are not receiving the same training and in fact are experi-
13 encing great difficulties in their attempts to effectively respond to
14 these individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this legislation is to
15 create a corporation incident reporting system to track and maintain a
16 record of all incidents that occur within corporation facilities.
17 The statistics gathered as a result of this legislation will allow the
18 corporation to better assess the training needs of security officers
19 serving each of the corporation's facilities, particularly the need for
20 training in how to effectively respond to alcohol and substance abusers
21 as well as to individuals who are psychiatrically impaired.
22 § 2. Section 1 of chapter 1016 of the laws of 1969, constituting the
23 New York city health and hospitals corporation act, is amended by adding
24 a new section 6-a to read as follows:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06933-01-3
S. 3127 2
1 § 6-a. Relationship with the New York state division of criminal
2 justice services. 1. A uniform corporation incident reporting system
3 shall be established within each facility of the New York city health
4 and hospitals corporation. The New York state division of criminal
5 justice services shall offer technical advice and assistance on the
6 creation and implementation of such system as needed and requested by
7 the corporation.
8 2. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall have
9 the following meanings, subject to such limitation as the corporation's
10 board may adopt:
11 (a) "Corporation" shall mean the New York city health and hospitals
12 corporation.
13 (b) "Division" shall mean the division of criminal justice services,
14 or any not-for-profit organization satisfying a contractual obligation
15 with the division.
16 (c) "Incident" shall mean the occurrence within a corporation facility
17 of a verbal or physical disturbance, involving an offender or other
18 person which is disruptive and inhibits or prevents any employee,
19 patient, visitor or other person thereof from conducting his/her duties
20 or business, or results in an arrest.
21 (d) "High risk incident" shall mean an incident in which the officer
22 is confronted with aberrant behavior by an offender or other person
23 which poses an immediate danger to the officer, the offender or person
24 causing the incident, patient, visitor or others.
25 (e) "Low risk incident" shall mean an incident in which the officer is
26 confronted with aberrant behavior by an offender or other person which
27 is disruptive, but does not pose an immediate danger to the officer, the
28 offender or person causing the incident, patient, visitor or others.
29 (f) "Offender" shall mean the person responsible, in whole or in part,
30 for the occurrence of an incident. The incident may or may not be
31 deemed a criminal incident. An offender may, or may not be an individual
32 with a psychiatric disability, an individual exhibiting signs of alcohol
33 or substance abuse, or an individual affected by a transitory mental
34 disability.
35 (g) "Corporation facility" shall mean the whole of a hospital building
36 and any fixtures, appurtenances or improvements thereon and any right,
37 title or interest in whole or in part to any lot or tract of land oper-
38 ated and utilized by the corporation, and owned by the city of New York.
39 3. (a) Not later than ninety days following the date this section
40 shall have become a law, the corporation in consultation with the divi-
41 sion shall implement and maintain a uniform system of tracking and
42 recording all incidents that occur within corporation facilities. Such
43 system shall be known and referred to as the corporation incident
44 reporting system. Each officer shall be responsible for completing a
45 report to be submitted to his or her supervisor within twenty-four hours
46 of the conclusion of the officer's tour of duty detailing any incidents
47 which occurred during said officer's tour of duty.
48 (b) The report shall include but not be limited to: the nature and
49 description of the incident including its designation as either high
50 risk or low risk; whether the incident was determined by on-site health
51 personnel to be medically or psychologically related to substance abuse;
52 the name or identification number of the officer involved; the name or
53 identification number of the offender; the location of the incident; the
54 total number of persons involved in the incident, including a desig-
55 nation of whether they were hospital personnel, patients, visitors, or
56 others; a description of any injuries sustained or property damage
S. 3127 3
1 resulting from the incident; and the disposition of the incident,
2 including an explanation of how it was handled and resolved, whether by
3 arrest or otherwise. Where an arrest was made, the offense charged
4 should be so noted in the officer's report.
5 (c) The corporation shall transmit, on a quarterly basis during the
6 first five years following the date this section shall have become a
7 law, and on an annual basis thereafter, a report including all informa-
8 tion gathered pursuant to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision, to
9 the New York state division of criminal justice services. The corpo-
10 ration shall, however, be charged with maintaining confidentiality and
11 as such, all statistical information included in the quarterly reports
12 shall not identify an offender or any other person involved in an inci-
13 dent by name or other factor which would reveal the identity of the
14 individual.
15 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
