A long-awaited list of recommendations for how New York could deploy specialized response teams in place of law enforcement when someone is experiencing a mental health crisis has been released

Known as Daniel’s Law, the report was due by the end of next year, dropping just over a year early. 

In numerous meetings over more than a year, the Daniel’s Law Task Force has examined similar programs that seek to recalibrate how mental health crises are responded to.

The panel was formed in the wake of the death of Daniel Prude in police custody in Rochester during a mental health crisis in 2020, and looked at programs across the country and even Canada. 

Through the process came two primary recommendations.

The first: when someone calls 911 or 988 about a mental health crisis or substance abuse issue, the task force recommends that a team specifically trained in crisis services respond. The report suggests law enforcement only get involved if there is a threat of violence.

It also recommended creating a technical assistance center on the state level to support local community programs.

State Sen. Samra Brouk, who sponsors Daniel’s Law, said the report will provide the legislature with the information it needs to move forward with the passage of the bill. 

“It’s helped illuminate and outline what it can look like to implement a true public health led response and keep both sides of the equation safe, including the public at large,” she said.

The task force proposed pilot programs to explore how such units can be deployed successfully, and Brouk praised the report's level of detail in those proposals.

“Considerations of what it needs to look like in New York, it has reported what it would look like in rural areas, or big metropolitan areas that are more populated,” she said.

As far as timetable, the task force recommends a series of overlapping phases that are between one-to-two and two-to-three years each to get pilot programs off the ground and to establish recurring funding streams. 

The phases include initial planning, planning and implementation of six to eight pilot programs and aligning budget resources with a scaling up of programming to achieve full implementation.

Brouk told Spectrum News 1 that the timing, just weeks before the next legislative session, is fitting.

“I think we’re all enthusiastic and encouraged to take this incredible body of work to push forward with the full implementation of Daniel’s Law,” she said.

The bill itself offers an overview of what would be required of communities and the state, while the recommendations and what is learned from pilot programs will inform how exactly those requirements are met.