Tanisha's Law Enacted

Feb 09, 2026

Council passed legislation championed by Council members Stephanie Howse-Jones, Charles Slife and former member Rebecca Maurer, that establishes a new, compassionate approach to responding to mental health and behavioral health crises in Cleveland, prioritizing dignity, safety, and appropriate care over traditional law enforcement responses when possible. It is inspired in part by the death of Tanisha Anderson and seeks to prevent similar tragedies. Ord. No. 1198-2024

Key components include:

• Creation of a Bureau of Community Crisis Response within Cleveland EMS, led by a Deputy Commissioner, to coordinate citywide crisis response efforts in collaboration with public safety, public health, and other city departments.
• Unarmed Crisis Response Teams made up of behavioral health professionals, social workers, peers with lived experience, and clinicians. These teams will be dispatched—often instead of police—to non-violent behavioral health crises, wellness checks, substance-use crises, and quality-of-life calls.
• Crisis call diversion through embedding mental health clinicians in the 9-1-1 dispatch center to route appropriate calls away from policing and toward behavioral health responses.
• Follow-up care and service connection, with responders assessing needs, providing resources, making referrals, and helping individuals access appropriate facilities or services.

Transparency and accountability, including:

• Ongoing data collection on effectiveness, outcomes, costs, and return on investment
  An annual public report on program impact and recommendations
• A public online dashboard showing response data, police hours saved, and community feedback

Expanded crisis intervention training for police, including:

• Mandatory crisis-intervention training for all officers (initial and annual refresher)
• Specialized, voluntary 40-hour training for designated Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officers
• Stricter eligibility standards for CIT officers, excluding those with histories of excessive force complaints
• Public education and engagement, with outreach to inform residents about the new crisis response system and how to access it.

Read the entire ordinance - Ord. No. 1198-2024