Item 9: Draft Recommendation to Council regarding public statements, ADA compliance, and crisis response protocols. — original pdf

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. RECOMMENDATION TO COUNCIL Mayor’s Committee for People with Disabilities (MCPWD) Recommendation Number: [20261009-009]: Recommendation Regarding Public Statements, ADA Compliance, and Emergency Crisis Response Standards in Police-Involved Incidents Involving Individuals with Mental Health or Cognitive Disabilities WHEREAS, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act mandate that public entities—including the City of Austin and the Austin Police Department (APD)—provide reasonable modifications in policies, practices, and procedures to ensure individuals with physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or developmental disabilities are not subjected to discrimination or preventable harm; and WHEREAS, acute psychiatric distress, post-traumatic stress, and cognitive or neurodivergent crisis fall under protected disability categories under federal law; and WHEREAS, the premature public characterization of police-involved shooting incidents—such as assigning the label "suicide by cop" prior to the completion of independent administrative, criminal, and disability-equity investigations—imposes unverified assumptions about a deceased individual’s mental state and shifts institutional responsibility for officer tactics and de-escalation onto the person experiencing a crisis; and WHEREAS, utilizing speculative psychiatric or motivational terms in official communications perpetuates stigma against individuals living with mental health disabilities and undermines community trust in city health and safety infrastructure; and WHEREAS, effective, disability-informed crisis response requires tactical patience, time, distance, non-coercive communication, and the immediate dispatch of specialized non-sworn mental health clinicians and co-responders rather than rapid, lethal force responses; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MAYOR’S COMMITTEE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES THAT: The Committee recommends that the Mayor and Austin City Council adopt the following administrative and policy directives for the City of Austin and the Austin Police Department: 1. Prohibit Speculative Motive Terminology: Enact an administrative directive barring city officials and police leadership from publicly applying speculative or unverified psychological labels—including "suicide by cop" or "suicide by police"—to describe victims of officer-involved shootings before independent investigations are complete. The Texas Observer . 2. Standardize Neutral, Fact-Based Incident Reporting: Mandate that public communications regarding police encounters involving potential mental or behavioral health crises strictly report verifiable facts without asserting unconfirmed internal motives or diagnoses. 3. Reframe Crisis Response Under ADA Title II Compliance: Direct the City Manager and Chief of Police to audit APD’s Use of Force and Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) protocols through a disability-rights framework, ensuring that tactical patience, de-escalation, and reasonable accommodation for behavioral and cognitive disabilities are mandatory prior to any escalation to force. 4. Expand Clinician-Led Crisis Diversion: Prioritize budget allocations and operational integration for non-police, clinician-led emergency response units (such as Expanded Mental Health Diversion) to ensure that 911 calls involving mental or behavioral health crises default to medical and mental health professionals. Seconded By: Date of Approval: Motioned By: Vote: For: Against: Abstain: Off the dais: Absent: Attest: _____________________________________________