(WDNG) – Rep. K.L. Brown says things like the officer-involved shooting in Jacksonville on Veteran’s Day 2014 cannot happen again and now he’s considering sponsoring legislation that would change part of the Alabama Code related to mental health.
The Alabama House District 40 representative on Thursday said he is working with mental health agencies and law enforcement to draft potential legislation that would allow mentally troubled individuals to be involuntarily admitted to a hospital for a 72-hour evaluation.
“Most of the time, those individuals are not going to be willing to check themselves in,” said Brown. “It’s going to be something that you’re going to have to be able to do against their will,” he said.
The Republican says he will be meeting with the father of a Jacksonville man who was killed by police in Nov. 2014. The father told media outlets he believed his son was suffering from some form of mental illness.
Brown said this on the same day a mental health care provider in the state announced they will end services later this month. The Alabama Psychiatric Services says they will end services on Friday, Feb. 13 after more than 30 years in the state.
According to a statement on their website, APS made the decision after a decrease in funding from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Alabama. The private psychiatric practice that is owned and operated by practicing physicians operates 18 locations across the state.