Following months of discussion and encouragement from the Justice for Victoria Lee Coalition, Fort Lee borough officials held a town hall on April 24 to directly address the town’s Asian American residents regarding its emergency services.
The meeting came nine months after the fatal police shooting of Victoria Lee during a mental health crisis, which significantly eroded community trust in law enforcement and prompted the coalition’s advocacy for direct engagement.
The town hall, led by Mayor Mark Sokolich, featured presentations from each emergency department leader and a brief Q&A before opening to general audience questions. While positioned as an outreach effort, the event primarily showcased existing emergency services and left questions about changes in police protocols since Lee’s death largely unanswered.
“What plans do governing bodies have in place to prevent such a tragedy from happening again?” one attendee asked after the presentation.
Lee was killed by a Fort Lee police officer in late July 2024 after her family called 911 to request an ambulance during her mental health emergency. Her death followed similar incidents, including the 2023 police killings of Najee Seabrooks and Andrew Washington, which ignited a movement for greater police accountability in New Jersey and intensified scrutiny of police responses to mental health crises. Grand juries recently declined to indict officers for Seabrooks’ and Washington’s deaths, while the investigation into Lee’s case remains ongoing.
At the town hall, Fort Lee Police Chief Matthew Hintze stated the borough will implement the ARRIVE Together program in May—a statewide initiative pairing mental health professionals with law enforcement for specific crisis calls. The program was already in the works when police killed Lee.
CarePlus New Jersey has been contracted to provide a mental health professional in Fort Lee on Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. That provider will be shared with Teaneck and Englewood Cliffs police departments, Hintze said at the town hall.
The lack of 24/7 coverage for the ARRIVE Together program was a significant concern for attendees, who highlighted the vulnerability of individuals experiencing crises during off-hours. This worry was amplified by the fact that Lee’s family had called police around 1 a.m. Both Sokolich and Hintze acknowledged this was a “huge hole.”
“These are regular business hours. They’re limited hours during the week…And quite frankly, there’s not a plethora of representatives out there,” said Sokolich to one resident who questioned the program’s limited schedule.
Hintze also added that all law enforcement officers are trained in various crisis response protocols, which were already in place before Lee’s killing: ICAT (Integrating Communications, Assessment, and Tactics) and ABLE (Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement), two de-escalation and use-of-force policing programs mandated by the state attorney general’s office.
Around 40 of Fort Lee’s 100 plus police officers have also received Crisis Intervention Training (CIT), Hintze said. Only two officers can attend CIT training at any given time due to program constraints, but he is “committed to [sending] every officer.”
When multiple community members asked for details on what has changed since Lee’s death and how law enforcement officials would respond to mental health crises today, Hintze offered little clarity on specific protocols.
“Every call is different. It’s situation-dependent…based on the training experience of the officer. Before going to that call, they make a decision based on their level of training experience and the training level experience of the supervisor [that] arrives on that scene,” Hintze said.
Some attendees also raised concerns about the cultural and linguistic backgrounds of emergency responders. Fort Lee has a diverse population, where 60% of residents over the age of 5 speak a language other than English at home. Officials said the police force has 10 Asian American officers, nine of whom speak Korean at various levels, while EMS has 25 Korean American members among its 70 staff.
Despite these statistics, one attendee emphasized the importance of increasing cultural representation to guide care and foster trust with the community. An emergency responder may not be as effective, she said, “if you don’t have someone who’s linguistically competent in one of the many languages in Fort Lee.”
Seeking ways to contribute solutions, community members asked what action they could take and what to request from legislators to improve mental health crisis support services. Hintze suggested advocating for more CIT training slots because only a limited number of people could attend the courses at a time.
One local pediatrician called for greater systemic change, saying that professionals, and not just law enforcement officials, should be involved in addressing crisis calls and making mental health assessments.
“I think the CIT courses would be very helpful, [and] I think that you guys are doing the best that you can, but I think the system needs to be evaluated to keep up with the mental health [crisis],” she said.
