BUFFALO, N.Y. — ​Advocates continue their push to prevent the Buffalo Police Department from buying new technology to use during mental health calls.

Allies for Black Justice held a rally in Niagara Square, asking elected leaders to stop police from buying Bolawraps.

Bolawraps allow officers to retrain people who are having a mental health crisis. The handheld device fires a cable with a hook at the end, which wraps around a person’s arms or legs.

City leaders have embraces the new technology, saying it’s non-lethal. But advocates want mental health counselors to be the ones to respond to these kinds of 911 calls, instead of police officers with new weapons.

"Definitely, there's ways to escalate that, and ways to de-escalate it. And surrounding somebody and carrying weapons or maybe shooting anything at them whether it's non-lethal or not is going to escalate the situation," Eve Shippens of Allies for Black Justice said.

The rally comes weeks after a Buffalo police officer shot and injured a man who allegedly hit an officer with a bat during a mental health crisis.