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Mental health: Florida attorney general wants to stop stigma, fix system

Ashley Moody is holding round-table discussions focusing on how mental health issues intersect with the state’s criminal justice system.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has a summer project. She will hold a series of round-table discussions across the state focusing on how issues related to mental health intersect with the state’s criminal justice system.

The first of those discussions took place Wednesday in Tampa, where Moody was joined by local law enforcement officials for a conversation about addressing mental health within the ranks of law enforcement.

‘Having seen it from all vantage points, both as a prosecutor, a judge, as the wife of a law enforcement officer, this is an important thing,” Moody said on Wednesday. “I see the challenges and demands that we place on law enforcement men and women.”

Moody cited statistics that show more law enforcement officers, both active and retired, are dying due to suicide than to in-line-of-duty deaths across the country. 

Florida ranks fourth in the nation in the number of officer suicides.

“We give them vests, we give them guns, they have tasers to protect themselves, to help them accomplish the mission of protecting the public,” Moody added. “But we sometimes fail in making sure they have the necessary resources to be prepared mentally and that they can recover from what they see and experience on a daily basis.”

“We can’t be afraid to say those words: mental health,” added Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco. “More importantly, people can’t be afraid to say they need help.”

The attorney general will hold three more round-table talks over the course of the summer. The next one is scheduled for June 26 in West Palm Beach, where the topic will be addressing mental health issues pre-arrest. 

Other discussion topics include post-arrest mental health issues and mental health in Florida’s court system.

“It’s a challenging series, I admit that,” said Moody. “But one thing that we can do and I believe that one thing that the citizens of Florida demand is that their leaders take on challenging issues.”

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