September 17, 2026
Contact: Nicole Kiprilov
Email: [email protected]

ALBANY, NY — Saritha Komatireddy, candidate for New York Attorney General, today convened a roundtable with policy experts, mental health professionals, and elected officials to discuss her recently released plan to build residential treatment centers throughout New York State and launch an Office of Civil Commitment to lead a stronger response to severe mental illness across New York.

The discussion focused on the challenges first responders face when encountering individuals in psychiatric crisis, gaps in the current system, and how New York can more effectively use residential treatment and civil commitment to get people suffering from severe mental illness the care they need before they become a danger to themselves or others.

New York law allows emergency intervention when someone presents a substantial risk of physical harm to themselves or others, and also when mental illness leaves them unable or unwilling to provide for essential needs such as food, medical care, personal safety, or shelter. Komatireddy’s plan calls for making sure those tools are actually used and that first responders and mental-health professionals have the resources and clear guidance necessary to intervene.

“For too long, New York has allowed people suffering from severe mental illness to cycle between the streets, emergency rooms, shelters, and the criminal justice system without getting the sustained treatment they need,” said Komatireddy. “This is a public safety crisis and a humanitarian crisis. When someone is so severely ill that they cannot care for themselves or poses a serious danger, we need to intervene, get them into treatment, and provide a path forward to stable living. We must give first responders the tools to act. We cannot keep waiting for a crisis to become a tragedy.”

Komatireddy released her residential treatment and civil commitment plan earlier this month as part of her broader effort to address the intersection of severe mental illness, homelessness, and public safety.

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