(July 10, 2013) Fifteen years ago this week, Seminole County Deputy Sheriff Eugene Gregory was shot and killed by a man with untreated severe mental illness. Two other deputies were wounded before the gunman was himself shot and killed by officers after a 13-hour standoff. The shooter, Alan Singletary, 43, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. His family had tried for years to get him treatment, without success.
After Gregory’s death, Seminole County Sheriff Donald Eslinger created a Mental Health Task Force to recommend changes to Florida’s mental health and substance abuse services and laws. The deputy sheriff’s widow Linda Gregory and the shooter’s sister Alice Petree and the Treatment advocacy Center joined Eslinger’s campaign for reform.
Six years later, the Florida legislature passed and then-Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law a bill known as the Baker Act Reform, which included authorization of assisted outpatient treatment (AOT, known in Florida as “involuntary outpatient placement”). For their efforts to make it happen, the trio of Sheriff Eslinger, Ms. Gregory and Ms. Petree were honored by the Florida House of Representatives.
But on this 15th anniversary of the deaths that were the catalyst for change, the jury is still out on the effectiveness of the Baker Act Reform. Like too many other states, Florida has a good AOT law that isn’t widely used.
It’s past time for that to change, not just in Florida but in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, Ohio, among others. Coast to coast, family members and communities must increase the pressure on public officials to provide treatment before tragedy.
See our tips for effective advocacy for ways to make a difference.