Cleveland City Council Safety Committee Meeting - January 14, 2026

The Cleveland City Council Safety Committee convened its first meeting of the new council term to review public safety staffing levels and deliberate on "Tanisha's Law," a proposed ordinance establishing a Bureau of Community Crisis Response. The session featured detailed updates from Director Wayne Drummond regarding personnel attrition and hiring challenges across the Police, Fire, EMS, and Animal Control divisions. A significant portion of the meeting was dedicated to amending legislation introduced to honor Tanisha Anderson, including discussions on staffing authority, response protocols, and community input mechanisms.

Consent Calendar

• No routine consent calendar items were listed or approved during the session.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Fatina Ada, Executive Director of Care Ohio and NAACP Northern Ohio Chapter: Expressed full support for Tanisha's Law, stating the legislation recognizes mental health as a public health issue and offers an opportunity to treat mental health crises without criminalization. She noted that the program would have altered outcomes for individuals currently incarcerated.

Discussion Items

• Staffing Levels and Attrition

  • Director Drummond reported the Division of Fire is currently six units over the budgeted strength of 757 (at 763) due to fewer retirements than anticipated, with a target to return to budget numbers via attrition in the coming months. He noted 22 departures in 2025.
  • The Division of Police is at 1,256 uniformed members (including recruits), below the budgeted 1,338 and the original 2025 budget request of 1,350. Director Drummond attributed the decrease to transfers of headcount to Fire and attrition.
  • Division of EMS is at 280 staff with 26 cadets in training; upon graduation, staffing will reach 306, leaving the division nine short of the 315 budgeted goal.
  • Animal Care and Control is five full-time positions short of the 38 full-time budgeted goal.

• Recruitment, Diversity, and Hiring Processes

  • Councilman Richard Starr expressed strong concern regarding the lack of diversity in recent Fire Department graduating classes, noting instances of zero African American graduates despite the city's demographic makeup. He stated the recruitment process appears to be dropping qualified minority candidates.
  • Councilman Jones shared a specific anecdote of a qualified African American applicant who was disqualified for failing a psychological evaluation, while a white applicant with a similar failure was allowed to sit in the class, though eventually required to pay for a re-evaluation to be seated. He urged the administration to investigate disqualifying rules in Fire and Police hiring.
  • Councilman Charles Slife presented data indicating a disparity in hiring where initial applicant pools were diverse, but the final hired classes were overwhelmingly white and non-residents. He attributed this to the Civil Service "one-in-ten" rule and residency bonus points, which he argued causes qualified Cleveland residents to be passed over.

• EMS Safety and Training

  • Councilman Conwell questioned the frequency of assaults on EMS workers. Assistant Director Scheckner reported 6 assaults in 2023, 10 in 2024, and 12 in 2025 as of the report date. Commissioner Wheeler confirmed that employees are trained in scene safety and self-defense, with police response available for backup.

• Tanisha's Law (Ordinance 1198-2024)

  • Legislative Amendments: The administration presented a revised draft where strike-through text indicates deletion and underlined text indicates additions. Council members House Jones and Slife proposed seven additional amendments.
    • Amendment 1 (Whereas Clause): The administration initially struck the phrase stating Tanisha Anderson "would likely be alive today". Councilwoman House Jones proposed an amendment replacing this language with a statement that the policies ensure people in crisis receive "compassionate and appropriate care." The Council amended the definition of "compassionate" to mean "showing sympathy and concern for others" and "appropriate care" to mean "suitable, high-quality health care."
    • Amendment 2 (Definitions): New definitions were added for "compassionate" and "appropriate care."
    • Amendment 3 (Bureau Structure): The amendment added a requirement that the Deputy Commissioner of Community Crisis Response operate "in consultation with the Director of Public Health" and allowed the Commissioner of EMS to employ necessary staff with the consent of the Director of Public Safety.
    • Amendment 4 (Dispatch): Clarified that unarmed crisis response teams shall be dispatched via "crisis call diversion" to respond to nonviolent behavioral health and quality of life calls, bypassing standard 911 dispatch protocols where appropriate.
    • Amendment 5 (Independent Response): Clarified that unarmed teams may independently respond after listening to police radio for any call that would benefit from their services.
    • Amendment 6 (Community Input): Mandated that crisis response guidelines be revised with the advice of the Department of Public Safety, Department of Public Health, City Council, and community stakeholders.
    • Amendment 7 (Data Collection): Required the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data on team effectiveness, to be made publicly available within legal limits (stripping the "extent legally permissible" qualifier to ensure public transparency).
  • Budget and Implementation: Council President Griffin noted that the initial investment is estimated around $700,000, escalating to approximately $4 million depending on scope. Councilman Conwell emphasized the need to maintain core EMS unit staffing levels to prevent service reduction. The administration confirmed that the program advances consent decree goals and has no negative impact on current metrics.

Key Outcomes

• Legislative Passage: Ordinance 1198-2024, as amended to include administration changes and the seven council-proposed amendments, passed with an affirmative vote requiring two-thirds support.
• Bureau Establishment: The ordinance legally establishes the Bureau of Community Crisis Response within the Division of Emergency Medical Services, to be administered by a Deputy Commissioner.
• Staffing Directives: The Director promised to provide the Council with a breakdown of police departures (retirements vs. departures to other departments), the specific disqualifying rules for Fire and Police hiring, and a report on minority hiring statistics.
• Implementation Roadmap: The administration is tasked with hiring the Deputy Commissioner of Community Crisis Response immediately following passage to begin program development, vehicle procurement, and finalizing the budget allocation for the Bureau's full operation.