Work to gain passage of Daniel’s Law continues

In 2020, after Daniel Prude died following an encounter with police that left him unconscious, state Sen. Samra Brouk and several others called for a better crisis response through the introduction of Daniel’s Law. Work on the legislation continues through a task force that is identifying needs, examining programs and funding.

“It would make New York State the first state to have a statewide framework for mental health and substance use crisis response, as opposed to the patchwork that many states, including New York have right now … different programs based on which municipality you’re in,” says Brouk. “We’ve been working with a group of stakeholders around amending the bill; there’s a new version in the Senate, and the Assembly as of now.”

Among the organizations that have publicly expressed support for the legislation are NAMI-National Alliance on Mental Illness (NYC and NYS), Mental Health Alliance of NYS, Alliance for Rights and Recovery, Law Enforcement Action Partnership and Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion. Local supporters include Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative and Rochester City Council.

Prude, whose death was made known in September 2020, months after the actual incident, was under the influence of the powerful drug PCP. He had two encounters with the police; one resulted in a trip to Strong Memorial where he was discharged after an emergency department evaluation. (Prude’s family had called 911 twice for help.)

The second encounter took place on a March morning in the throes of the pandemic. The police placed a spit hood over Prude’s head after he told the officers he had COVID and he would spit on them. Prude, who was agitated and had discarded his clothes, was restrained naked and lay on the street until an ambulance arrived.

If enacted, Daniel’s Law would coordinate the response, sending appropriate personnel to the scene, depending on the case. The legislation’s purpose is to establish a statewide emergency and crisis response council to encourage local governments to develop preventive, rehabilitative, crisis response and treatment services. After being passed by the Senate Mental Health Committee, the bill is now with the Senate Finance Committee.

Brouk views the support from the Mental Health Committee as an important win. It enabled the allocation of $1 million for the Daniel’s Law Taskforce in last year’s state budget. The task force has members with expertise in trauma-informed, community-led responses and diversions for mental health, alcohol use or substance use crises, and those affected by police responses in such crises.

The group is charged with:

■ identifying potential operational and financial needs to support trauma-informed, community and public health-based crisis response and diversion for anyone in the state experiencing a mental health, alcohol use, or substance use crisis;

■ reviewing and recommending programs and systems operating within the state or nationally that could be deployed as a model crisis and emergency services system; 

■ finding potential funding sources for expanding mental health, alcohol use and substance use crisis response and diversion services.

Chacku Mathai, a task force member, and a person with lived experience of mental health and substance use conditions, stresses that the Prude incident was not the first one, and often police response to people with mental health or substance use issues ends up with the use of force.

“That’s really the idea that we want to eliminate, you know, reduce, minimize police response in those situations that they’re not needed,” Mathai says. “And where they are needed, as very few, very, very few circumstances where they would be needed, Daniel’s Law proposes a structure. Everything from the infrastructure that’s needed statewide for local planning and regional oversight (to) what model would be in order to actually have a safe and equitable and actually responsive trauma informed response to a person in crisis.

“We want people to experience that response as something that is an opportunity for healing,” he adds. “We’re getting help, and sending police doesn’t do that.”

Rochester’s Person in Crisis team, where social workers are at the forefront, was launched in January 2021 to help with crisis response. Its launch during the pandemic likely explains the slow start PIC had, responding to as few as eight calls in some early winter months. In its first year, the team responded to an average of 167 calls per month.

In the ensuing years, however, that rate gained steam. In 2022 and 2023, the PIC team responded to an average of 800 and 870 calls per month, respectively. Despite a comparatively lower number in August, this year still has an average of 746 calls per month so far.

The PIC team has responded to a total of over 28,000 calls since its inception. The vast majority of those are from 911 (93 percent). Calls from 211, the mental health service line, contributed 5.7 percent of total calls. An “Other” category, which includes referrals from RPD or community members, makes up the remaining 1.2 percent of calls.

After responding to a call, “mental health transport” and “remaining on site” were provided as services 18 percent of the time in both categories. Far more common, particularly after 2022, was the nebulously named “other outcome,” which was 59 percent of the time. Forty-three calls that PIC responded to resulted in arrests. The majority of those cases (72 percent) was a co-response with other emergency services.

Since the team’s inception, PIC has mostly responded during the late afternoon hours or throughout the night. More than 63 percent of all calls PIC received were from the hours of 4 p.m. to 3 a.m. The hours between 7 p.m. and midnight are particularly busy, accounting for 36 percent of total calls across the team’s four years. The least common times of day for a PIC response were in the daytime, mostly between 4 a.m. and 11 a.m. This is in line with police incident trends for violent events as well.

Both Brouk and Mathai recognize the efforts made by municipalities toward assistance during mental health and substance abuse crises. Daniel’s Law, Mathai notes, would have a process for local authorities when it comes to response.

“Everybody gets to make their choices around what they’re doing with their services,” Mathai says. “(It is) creating a broad standard for who responds and who gets to respond.”

He points to successful programs across the nation. One program that is often held up as a model is the mobile Crisis Assistance Helping out on the Streets in Eugene, Ore. A report on Behavioral Crisis Alternatives by the Vera Institute for Justice found that of the estimated 24,000 calls CAHOOTS responded to in 2019, only 311 required police backup. Albuquerque’s Community Safety Department only calls the Albuquerque Police Department on 1 percent of calls, and they send 2 percent of calls back to APD when they determine APD is more appropriate before they engage in that response, ACS’s second-quarter report reads.

In the city of Durham, N.C., the Holistic Empathetic Assistance Response Team, which has detailed metrics, also shares stories of assistance. For instance, in a substance abuse response, HEART recounts a neighbor who frequently called 911 in drug-induced paranoia before the initiative was established. Over time, he established trust and confidence in HEART responders who listened and validated his experience. With HEART’s help, the individual slowly became ready to regain sobriety.

Mathai can relate. He has struggled with substance use in the past. Since then, Mathai has been a staunch advocate for adopting better ways to respond to mental health and substance abuse situations. One way could be a peer-run organization. It is natural for those who struggle to identify with those attending to them.

“When we talk about peer responders, we’re talking about people in recovery from either addiction or mental health,” Mathai says. “Daniel Prude was going through both issues. Mental  health and substance use, a kind of condition like I have … it could have been me.”

When it comes to peers, Brouk believes, some education is required for communities to understand their role in a response.

“For folks who imagine what that world looks like, or what a response looks like, when it’s actual mental health professionals, crisis counselors, peers, showing up, there needs to be a level of education around what a peer is,” she says. “So a lot of individuals don’t understand that right now,”

Currently, peers are found through the mental health system at crisis stabilization centers and rehab facilities. Daniel’s Law would create a public health response to a health crisis, Brouk stresses.

“We are sending the right trained counselors to someone in need, as opposed to sending someone who was not trained in the needs that they have,” she says. “And so I think that is where the peers come into play.”

Response teams will have peers but also EMS personnel, social workers, a licensed mental health counselor—a holistic approach. 

“What we’ve heard in so many of these public meetings is that peer presence can really exponentially improve the response and so finding ways to put them at the center of these response teams along with others, I think, is the key,” Brouk says.

The task force is expected to submit its recommendations on a statewide implementation of Daniel’s Law next year. Then, the legislation will need to pass with the necessary funds to build a response structure statewide.

Rochester has its eye on the bill’s progress. In May, Mayor Malik Evans noted that the law would create an “an important tool in preventing future tragedies in instances of mental health or addiction crises.”

“This represents a huge step on the road to victory for people living with mental health challenges and their families,” said Melanie Funchess, director of mental health and wellness at Common Ground Health and CEO of Ubuntu Village Works. “Our communities are one step closer to being able to feel safe to call for help when a loved one is in crisis.”

Brouk thinks back to the origins of the legislation.

“When we think about (how) we got here—it is named Daniel’s Law because a man lost his life, because we failed to create the mental health and substance use response system here in New York that he needed,” Brouk says. “In his memory and his legacy, we are trying to make sure that no one else goes through that.”

She adds: “We’re trying to save people’s lives and we’re trying to create safer communities.”

Smriti Jacob is Rochester Beacon managing editor. The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. Submissions to the Letters page should be sent to [email protected].