Area leaders look to Baker Act reforms

POLK COUNTY (FOX 13) - After the Parkland shooting, Tampa Bay movers and shakers want to change the law so people can be Baker Acted more easily. They hope that might help head off future school violence, but comes with a hefty price tag.

"We are talking millions,” Dr. Kirk Fasshauer of the Peace River Center told FOX 13.

Right now, you have to be deemed a threat to yourself or someone else to be Baker Acted, involuntarily held for up to 72 hours.

Last week, Rep. Ross Spano ( R ) District 59, and Polk Sheriff Grady Judd unveiled a plan to address active shooters. As part of it, they want to make it possible for someone to be Baker Acted simply because they are acting bizarrely.

"We need more teeth in the Baker Act so that when we find these people that we’re really worried about we can help them up front,” said Judd.

People close to the accused shooter in the Parkland massacre , Nikolas Cruz, say he was exhibiting red flag behavior, but no one interceded.

If Spano’s proposal becomes law, it will come with a hefty price tag.

The number of kids who have been Baker Acted has doubled since 2001. Even though the Peace River Center just opened a new crisis stabilization unit in Lakeland last October, beds, especially for children, can be scarce. Peace River only has 18 children’s beds for all of Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties, even after the recent expansion.

If the requirements for someone to be Baker Acted are loosened, Fasshauer says Florida would need more beds.

“And that takes money,” he said.