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In a press conference held at Town Hall on Wednesday, July 12, Mount Pleasant Police and town officials called for the closure of the JCAA Westchester Campus located in Pleasantville at 1075 Broadway, which serves as a treatment center for emotionally troubled children.
Founded in 1912 as the Pleasantville Cottage School, the center is meant to care for children placed there by family courts or mental health agencies. The programs at the campus are regulated by the State Office of Mental Health and the Office of Children and Family Services.
However, police and officials cited dangerous conditions at the center as evidence the campus should close, including numerous incidents of assaults, fights, vandalism, and suicide and self-harm threats.
According to officials, the Mount Pleasant Police Department has responded to over 450 calls at the campus for such incidents in the first six months of 2023 alone. These calls included:
- 248 missing persons cases;
- 24 assaults;
- 23 vandalism incidents;
- 13 violent altercations and fights;
- 11 suicide of self-harm threats;
- "Countless" emotionally disturbed children.
Additionally, the department and other emergency services responded to over 760 calls at the center during the entirety of 2022. Officials estimated that the total will exceed 1,000 calls by the end of 2023.
Mount Pleasant officials said that the facility is not designed or staffed to properly handle the children placed at the campus.
"It is clear the JCAA does not have the necessary and qualified staff to cope with residents who have severe behavioral and psychological issues," Mount Pleasant Town Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi said, also adding, "The fact that the town received 248 missing persons' calls in 180 days is just one indication that the JCAA staff is incapable of ensuring the safety and whereabouts of JCAA residents."
Mount Pleasant Police Chief Paul Oliva also weighed in, calling the center a "tremendous drain on Mount Pleasant's police and ambulance services."
"These emergency service calls routinely consume hours of our officers' days," Oliva continued.
According to Mount Pleasant officials, incidents at the campus often spill out into the surrounding community. In one such incident, a psychologically disturbed resident entered a neighbor's backyard, stole a chicken from their chicken coop, and killed it by biting its head off while walking down the middle of a residential block.
In another incident, a shirtless male resident blocked a neighbor's vehicle on the street and threatened to kill himself, officials said.
Outreach attempts to JCAA have not been successful, officials said, adding that conditions have been worsening.
"For years we have asked JCCA officials to increase their security and supervision of their residents, which they have failed to do," Fulgenzi said, continuing, "The time has come for the state to close this campus for the safety of the children, the residents of Mount Pleasant and our first responders."
"The State of New York Office of Children and Family Services has been turning a blind eye to this disturbing situation for too long," Fulgenzi added.
In a response, JCAA Chief Executive Officer Ronald Richter said that the organization is "hampered by an inadequate system of care for a small number of young people on our campus whose needs far exceed the level of support our programs are designed and licensed to deliver."
"For over a year, JCCA has been raising the alarm about the growing level of needs among young people with complex psychiatric and behavioral diagnoses that cannot be addressed in our campus setting," Richter continued, also adding, "We need more long-term solutions to support children with the most acute needs, and our partners at the city and state level must support our efforts to address these challenges.”
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