On Tuesday, the Jacksonville Community Action Committee (JCAC) and dozens of neighbors packed the steps outside City Hall, calling on the city to create a dedicated mental-health response team. Organizers argued that too many crisis calls end with jail or death, and said they want clinicians, not deputies, to be the default first responders when someone is in mental-health crisis.
At the rally, outreach chair Neal Jefferson urged city leaders to follow the lead of other cities and “step into the 21st century” with a non-police response model. Clinical and forensic psychologist Dr. Justin D'Arienzo told the crowd that mental-health specialists can often calm volatile situations but “are not always going to be effective” if a scene is not safe, a point organizers say has to shape any new program. They also promoted an upcoming “Care Not Cops” conference and criticized JSO on social media, according to Action News Jax.
They Pointed To Recent Local Cases
Jefferson highlighted the Oct. 24, 2025 death of 32-year-old Rashaud Van Martin, who local reporting says became unresponsive after officers brought him to the Mental Health Resource Center while he was held under Florida’s Baker Act, according to local reporting that he became unresponsive after officers brought him to the Mental Health Resource Center. He also pointed to the 2020 officer-involved killing of Leah Baker, an encounter whose body-cam footage came under scrutiny after the State Attorney cleared officers, per News4Jax. And he cited the August 2025 shooting of Brian Gillis, a case in which JSO released footage showing officers responding to reports of an arson and a knife, a response that prompted local calls for oversight, according to News4Jax.
What The City Already Does
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office currently operates a Behavioral Crisis Response Unit that pairs specially trained officers with clinicians from the Mental Health Resource Center, a co-responder model Action News Jax profiled in a 2024 ride-along report. The Mental Health Resource Center’s website also details its emergency mental-health services along with its role in triage and patient intake, MHRC notes.
Organizers at Tuesday’s rally said that any new city-run team would need its own rules, a separate funding stream and clear limits on when clinicians are sent in. They stressed that clinicians typically do not go into an active, unsafe scene without law-enforcement backup, and argued that policy has to reflect that reality while still shifting the default response away from armed officers.
Organizers’ Next Steps
JCAC leaders say they plan to keep pushing at the planned “Care Not Cops” conference and at future demonstrations. They want any new system to guarantee 24/7 clinician staffing, provide built-in follow-up care and include a dedicated budget line that prioritizes services over policing. For now, city officials have not announced any plan to create a separate, clinician-led response team, and activists say they intend to keep pressure on municipal leaders.
Investigations And Oversight
Attorneys and family members are still seeking body-camera footage and autopsy results in some of the cases activists referenced, and those requests and reviews remain pending, according to local reporting on the still-pending requests and reviews. Advocates and some clinicians say more transparency, combined with a trained and well-resourced civilian response, could reduce violent outcomes and help rebuild trust between communities and first responders.
