The death of Daniel Prude highlighted the failures of our County’s current approach to mental health services. Although Monroe County spends $40 million on mental health services every year, the current approach clearly is not adequately addressing community needs. I support the recent actions taken by County Executive Bello, including creating a Mental Health and Substance Abuse Redesign Taskforce and expanding investments in the County’s Forensic Intervention Team (FIT), which sends mental health professionals on calls with law enforcement. The recent investments extend this service to operate 24/7, and the County needs to ensure that the funding is in place to adequately staff and expand this vital program over the long-term. Mental health staff from FIT are currently dispatched only as requested by law enforcement, but I will work to ensure that they are routinely dispatched as a part of an expanded commitment to mental health services and equity. I also applaud the creation of the Racial and Structural Equity Commission (RASE) and look forward to reviewing their recommendations.