Tanisha’s Law introduced in Cleveland
CLEVELAND (WJW) — Local officials spoke Thursday on newly proposed legislation that would better prepare local police and officials to handle mental health crises.
City councilmembers introduced Tanisha's Law on Monday to codify "co-response and alternative responses for addressing crisis by equipping Cleveland police, mental health professionals and community members with mental health experience with improved protocols and training for responding to individuals experiencing mental health crises," reads a Wednesday news release.
'Certainly no justice at this point:' Tanisha Anderson's family speaks out a year after her death
The legislation is named for Tanisha Anderson , 37, who died while in police custody in November 2014. While officers were taking her for a mental health evaluation, her family said she was thrown to the ground. The Cleveland police union disputed the claim.
Anderson's family members spoke alongside the law's sponsors, councilmembers Stephanie Howse-Jones, Ward 7; Charles Slife, Ward 17; and Rebecca Maurer, Ward 12.
Maurer said city officials have been working swiftly to establish a "co-response" model in which behavioral health specialists are first-on-scene. Currently, Cleveland police are expected to first "clear the scene" and mental health specialists aren't arriving until sometimes days later, she said.
"When we have other types of emergency calls coming in, getting a squad car out to someone having a mental health crisis gets pushed further back," she said, adding the legislation would create a "real co-response" protocol.
The legislation would codify "unarmed response" to those situations and create new training requirements for police officers, as well as a new Department of Community Crisis Response, said Howse-Jones.
"It takes a lot of coordination from first responders, from behavioral specialists ... that is what is in Tanisha's Law," she said.
Read the proposed ordinance below:
Cleveland police officers submit answers in Tanisha Anderson case
Case Western Reserve University law students assisted Anderson's family with crafting the legislation, according to the release. They said the law is intended to create a compassionate and safer mental health response protocol in the city.
The work took years, said Anderson's uncle, Michael Anderson.
"There should be a protocol set forth when dealing with someone who is mentally ill," said Anderson's nephew, Jacob Johnson. "This will mean that no other family will have to endure what we've endured — not just based on what happened that night, but having to go through life without her."
