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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Donovan Tavares, Representative of NAACP Legal Defense Fund, on Mental Health Crisis Response and Police Violence
5:12:40
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127 sec
Donovan Tavares, representing the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, argues for increased funding for community-based responders to mental health crises to prevent interactions with law enforcement. He emphasizes the disproportionate use of police violence against people with mental health conditions, especially Black individuals.
- Highlights that 1 in 10 911 calls involve mental health conditions, but most don't pose a public safety threat.
- Presents statistics showing higher rates of police violence against individuals with mental health disabilities, particularly affecting Black people.
- Stresses the need to move away from police as first responders to mental health crises towards a care-based system.
Donovan Tavares
5:12:40
Good afternoon.
5:12:42
My name is Donovan Tavares and I'm speaking on behalf of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
5:12:47
It is our position, which will be laid out in detail in our written testimony to follow today's hearing, that funding for community based responders for people experiencing mental health crisis that would prevent interactions with law enforcement is crucial.
5:13:00
This is because of the clear disproportionate use of police violence against people with mental health conditions, especially when they are black or experiencing a crisis.
5:13:08
About one in ten calls to 911 involve someone with a mental or behavioral health condition, but most of those situations don't actually pose a threat to public safety.
5:13:18
In fact, people with serious mental health conditions are far more likely to be victims of violence and not
Gale A. Brewer
5:13:23
the
Donovan Tavares
5:13:23
perpetrators, And yet still, the data is clear, individuals with mental health and mental and behavioral health disabilities face a much higher risk of police violence.
5:13:33
They're killed at by police at significantly higher rates than their same race peers without such disabilities, ten times higher for white people, six times higher for Latin a people, and four times higher for black people.
5:13:45
Between 2015 and 2020, nearly one in four people killed by police in The US had a psychiatric disability.
5:13:52
The risks are even more stark for black individuals with mental or behavioral health conditions or those in crisis.
5:13:58
We already know that black people are over three times more likely to be killed by law enforcement compared to white people, but for black people experiencing a mental health crisis, the danger is even greater.
5:14:10
They're more likely to be seen as noncompliant or threatening, and black men in particular are shot and killed by police at significantly higher rates than white men exhibiting similar similar behaviors.
5:14:21
At the same time, black people with mental or behavioral health disabilities are less likely to receive the care they need from health professionals and more likely to be subjugated to involuntary treatment or confine or commitment.
5:14:35
This is a systemic failure.
5:14:37
We urgently need to move away from relying on police as first responders to mental health crises and toward a system rooted in care and not punishment.
5:14:46
Thank you.