Get AI Briefings, Transcripts & Alerts on Local & National Government Meetings — Forever.
Residents press council for permanent mental-health response teams and demand accountability after officer-involved shootings
Loading...
Summary
Dozens of public commenters urged Jacksonville City Council to fund permanent mental-health emergency response teams, criticized Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responses to crises and asked prosecutors to drop charges stemming from last year’s arrests. Speakers cited multiple officer-involved shootings connected to mental-health calls and demanded timely video release and policy changes.
Dozens of residents used the council’s public-comment period to demand new city policy on mental-health emergencies and to call for accountability in officer-involved shootings.
Wells Todd, speaking for fellow residents, said the city should remove responsibility for mental-health crisis response from JSO and instead adopt professional response teams: “It is time to create a permanent mental health emergency response team. Too many of our citizens, when they call 911 and the police respond, there is fear in their hearts of what the police will do… People have died.”
Several speakers cited what they said were seven JSO shootings tied to mental-health crises in 2025. Kiana Blaylock told the council, “This community deserves people who are trained, mental-health professionals, not JSO officers when they are calling 911 for a mental health evaluation.” Brian Jefferson and other family members of people killed in encounters with JSO urged body cameras with audio and faster access to footage: “Families should not be waiting for records… in months or a year,” Jefferson said.
Monica Gold and other organized advocates asked the council to pilot a first-responder model that prioritizes clinicians and de‑escalation practices. Gold singled out a case she said illustrated the risk of current responses: an officer fired at a person who could have been de‑escalated by the mental‑health professional present, she said.
Speakers also tied these public-safety demands to broader calls for accountability around last year’s forcible removals at council chambers. Multiple members of the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network and others asked the council and the state’s attorney to drop charges against three people arrested on May 27, 2025, saying the arrests were politically motivated and that the city had since used arrests to suppress dissent. Connor Kavli said he faced “two trumped up felonies I did not commit,” and urged supporters to attend upcoming trials.
Council members did not adopt a policy or vote during the public‑comment segment; the meeting continued to agenda business. Speakers asked for swift next steps, including funding commitments, the creation of a standing pilot program, and public reports on how the city would shift response duties away from uniformed officers toward mental-health professionals.
The council’s agenda later included many ordinance votes and committee referrals; advocates said they will press members to convert the public demand into budgeted programs during forthcoming committees and budget deliberations.
