NEW YORK, NY June 12, 2008 —City and state officials are pledging to repair a mental health system that they say regularly fails to identify mentally ill people who are potentially violent.

WNYC’s Fred Mogul has more.

A panel of experts was convened last year following several high-profile criminal incidents involving the mentally ill.

The group issued a report echoing what many critics have been saying for years: the mental health system — comprised of hospitals, clinics and social service and law enforcement agencies – suffers from, quote, “poor coordination, fragmented oversight, and lack of accountability.”

The recommendations include creating joint city-and-state “monitoring teams” for troubled individuals and a database for tracking them.

The proposals are already being implemented and will cost an estimated $13 million in city and state funds.

For WNYC, I’m Fred Mogul.