the Paterson Police Department is once again under scrutiny this time after a 31-year-old man who works with the city's violence Intervention Program was fatally shot by officers over the weekend the incident followed an hours-long standoff while the man Najee Seabrooks was barricaded inside his apartment reportedly experiencing a mental health crisis local activists are circulating a petition with more than 4 300 signatures today condemning the police department and demanding a total restructuring as those who worked closely with Seabrooks to prevent shootings like this say they were blocked from providing the help they were trained to give senior political correspondent David Cruz reports Patterson mayor Andre say I wasn't saying much today three days after a four-hour standoff ended with police shooting violence interventionist Naji Seabrooks the mayor didn't answer any questions about the shooting when he appeared at an unrelated event this morning over four hours where the police were trying to de-escalate the situation they actually Enlisted the assistance of one of his family members unfortunately was unsuccessful we are mourning the loss I've spoken to his mother as well but we want to make sure that this investigation plays out the family member the mayor refers to is a police officer from another jurisdiction members of the Saint Joseph's hospital-based Patterson Healing Collective phc an organization for which Seabrooks worked as a high-risk interventionist were at the scene last Friday but were not allowed access to Seabrooks who was facing a mental health crisis of a known origin leaders of the Patterson Healing Collective said they're still grieving and didn't want to speak to Press today but off camera they told us that their pain was made worse by the fact that Naji Seabrooks didn't have to die this is an injustice at Lisa choudhary in a statement we pleaded with police to allow us to help our brother the very Services we're trained to provide were denied to Najee phc and similar organizations have been fighting a sometimes frustrating battle in a city that has seen record levels of violence exacerbated by well-documented police misconduct that has ended in discipline of officers and several civil suits against the city police claim Seabrooks lunged at them with a knife last Friday they weren't talking today as sentiment grows that the very agency empowered to protect and serve is accomplishing neither we know that the reason why device interruptions groups exist because the police are equipped to handle many situations of Crisis and the police shouldn't be the only solution to handling crisis other people whether it is an independent crisis a census team need to be implemented in the city of Paterson like they have they have been implemented in Oakland and or other places and that will show a reduction in um and these types of events Governor Phil Murphy recently announced 10 million dollars for arrive together a program that pairs social workers with police to specifically deal with people in emotional crisis but say critics that is a pittance when compared to police budgets Charles Boyer of Salvation and social justice who called our mayor Saya to resign this weekend has called for the state to do more for Crisis Intervention groups like phc if we can filter billions of dollars to police departments in the state of New Jersey surely we can fund these and stand up these organizations at the same level and so I believe Folks at least are starting to get it because had Patterson Healing Collective been able to get to their brother their teammate had they been allowed Najee would be alive today a coalition of social justice organizations including the phc and black lives matter Patterson will hold a prayer vigil and demonstration outside City Hall tomorrow beginning at 5 PM the hope is that this tragedy will serve as a Tipping Point for police community relations here but gauging from today's lack of response from City officials Patterson could be facing a long road ahead I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight News