Travis’ Law Seeks to End Police-Only Responses to Mental Health Crises
A new law passed last year by the Minnesota legislature is changing the way 911 responds to mental health crisis calls
By: Joshua Kloss
Last year, a new law was passed in the state of Minnesota that makes the horizon just a bit brighter for individuals experiencing mental health issues. The law was passed thanks to a Twin Cities-based organization that was created to combat police brutality on an ongoing basis, called Communities United Against Police Brutality (or CUAPB for short). Their work spans from helping victims of police brutality build a legal case for the court to lobbying for legislation that helps prevent cases of police brutality such as this.
The law is titled Travis’ Law, after Travis Jordan, who was killed by two police officers on November 9, 2018, at home located on Morgan Avenue North. He was killed during a wellness check for his suicidal ideation. As Flo Ching, Travis’ mother, explains: “my son was killed by two police officers while he was in the throes of a mental health crisis. I grieve the loss of my son every day, especially knowing this tragedy never needed to happen.” Truly, no police officer should be the one called to respond to mental health crisis calls to 911, given the fact that people experiencing these crises are sixteen times more likely to die during a police encounter than any other group of people, a staggering statistic found in a study released by the Treatment Advocacy Center. Thus, the law is an important and necessary step in ending the widely accepted status quo of police officers responding to 911 calls that deal with individuals experiencing mental health emergencies.
Considering the Minneapolis Police Department’s historical lack of humane responses to the very citizens they are sworn to protect, Travis’ death was greeted with rightful protest and grieving. Flo Ching and Taren Vang, who was Travis’ girlfriend at the time of his death, were active supporters of the bill when it was first proposed back following Travis’s death in 2018 and testified for its passage.
Being new, the law is not yet well known, and some 911 call centers haven’t yet fully implemented it. Thus, people should know about Travis’ Law and that they have a right to request mental health crisis responders rather than police for mental health crisis calls.
Minnesota law requires that mental health crisis responders be mental health professionals or practitioners– highly skilled professionals who can provide care and resources on the scene. Mental health crisis response teams already cover every part of our state, so failing to utilize them where they are most needed is a waste of resources and an alarming disregard of human wellbeing. In addition, in situations where there is a weapon or threat, co-response teams of mental health crisis responders and police can be deployed to avoid a police-only response.
And this type of reform is not completely new to Minnesota either. For example, Ramsey county has been diverting calls to mental health crisis teams since 2016, long before the passage of Travis’ Law. As outlined in Ramsey County’s Crisis Teams and Collaboration with Emergency Communication Services report, this has worked remarkably well by relieving the burden from police officers and providing immediate, appropriate care to people in crisis. By 2021, Ramsey County 911 was dispatching mental health crisis teams to over 1,200 calls a year, proving the effectiveness of such responses.
Ultimately, current progress in the context of police reform is lacking at best. We can (and should) always strive for more legislation to fix this country and state’s flawed policing that has cost countless lives of marginalized communities and those struggling with mental health issues. Yet, Travis’ Law is a beautiful reminder that there is hope to be relished in and is an important step toward ending police-only responses to mental health crises so that people get the care they need and deserve.