In guidance and public findings issued last year, the United States Departments of Justice
(DOJ) and Health and Human Services (HHS) have made clear that federal law requires
that people with behavioral health and other disabilities receive a health response—not a
law enforcement response—in circumstances where others would receive a health
response.1 This means that when someone experiences a mental health crisis, a health-
focused team of workers with mental health expertise should be deployed instead of the
police, just as an ambulance would be dispatched to help someone experiencing a
physical health emergency. Any failure to do so violates the civil rights of people with
disabilities.
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