At Monday’s city council meeting, residents called for more support for people experiencing mental distress.
ATLANTA — Community advocates are calling on Atlanta city officials to increase mental health resources, citing incidents like the 2022 police shooting and killing of a man at a Buckhead restaurant.
Family members say Nijil Cullins was in the midst of a mental health crisis when he was shot by Atlanta police in Fogo de Chao two years ago, and many are now calling on the city to invest in more accessible treatment options and better training for officers.
Activists like Devyn Barrington Ward believe there is an urgent need to increase mental health resources.
At Monday’s city council meeting, residents called for more support for people experiencing mental distress.
“We saw what happened on the Nygil Cullins video. This individual was in a mental crisis and the police were not prepared to deal with that,” Barrington-Ward said.
“We’re seeing Black men, in particular, going into mental health crisis, and they’re not receiving the care and resources that are available to them,” Barrington Ward said.
He also highlighted potential solutions such as the Police Alternatives and Diversions (PAD) initiative, which launched in 2021. The program allows officers responding to a mental health crisis to refer individuals for treatment rather than arresting them.
“Now people can access PAD via 311. Community members can request a PAD referral,” he explained.
Last month, the program reported that 23 people had been diverted into care programs, but Barrington Ward believes more can be done.
“The problem is that PAD is only funded to operate from 7am to 7pm Monday through Friday, which excludes a lot of the times when people need these services,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Barrington Ward is optimistic that with proper planning, potential tragedies can be prevented.
He also said increasing funding for the PAD program and expanding access to Grady EMS resources are important steps forward.
