Navigating solutions for police interactions with vulnerable persons
MANITOULIN––On April 9 Ontario announced it was taking steps to implement a new police response framework that will help improve interactions with both vulnerable individuals and the general public.
The new framework, to be established by summer 2018, will guide the development of enhanced training for police officers and ensure de-escalation techniques are central to any police response, particularly when individuals in crisis are involved. The new model will also ensure that the enhanced training is delivered consistently across the province.
The model was developed in partnership with experts in mental health, addictions, psychology, civil liberties, policing, anti-racism and Indigenous partners as well as racialized populations and individuals with lived experience. The framework will focus on the development of critical decision tools to guide police officers; develop a province-wide training curriculum for annual police officer training, transformation of use of force and de-escalation training courses, and establish mandatory qualification requirements.
These actions build on the province’s ongoing work to integrate de-escalation techniques into the training programs of new recruits and are part of the province’s plan to address recommendations in the Ontario Ombudsman’s 2016 report, ‘A Matter of Life and Death.’
The report also noted the role of the health care system. “There is no doubt that community-based supports and increased resources for mental health initiatives could play a role in improving interactions between persons with mental illness and police.”
As first responders to a call, front line police officers often must act as mental health workers. The 2016 report also noted “abundant research to demonstrate that inadequate mental health care has resulted in an increase in interactions between police and persons with mental illness, as well as an increase in policing costs.”
The reality, then, is that this remains as much a policing issue as a health care issue. Police will continue to encounter people in crisis. A better solution could be the integration of mental health supports within the policing services.
As noted in part one of this series, UCCM Anishnaabe Police Services has taken a unique approach to dealing with vulnerable persons or persons with mental health problems by hiring Daughness Migwans as social navigator. Ms. Migwans is a civilian member of the police with a mandate to build bridges and reinforce trust between the UCCM Police and members of the communities they serve. Her role addresses concerns such as those voiced by Aundeck Omni Kaning member Jo-Anne Thibodeau-Audette. “Our young people fear police,” said Ms. Thibodeau-Audette. “There should be more of police socializing within the community, with our youth. There’s the youth who they consider troublemakers but the police don’t look at the causes as to why they’re troublemakers. Look at the causes of why they’re getting into trouble. They’re bored into mischief. They’re acting out because of problems at home. They’re acting out maybe because the education system is failing them.”
The social navigator works with at risk individuals in the communities and provides supports to those individuals in order to reduce their dependence on the judicial and hospital systems by navigating them to the appropriate community organizations. Often this means having individual police officers identify at risk individuals they have interacted with and then bringing all the service organizations to the table to obtain a sustainable solution.
The UCCM Police have also implemented a voluntary vulnerable persons registry, providing another useful tool that allows police to modify their approach when dealing with persons who may be suffering from mental health issues or addictions and/or to provide referrals to the appropriate agency.
The social navigator role and vulnerable persons registry are about approaching the root of the problem and allowing for earlier intervention. UCCM Police Chief Rodney Nahwegahbow attributed the result in mental health occurrences in 2017 to the new approach. “The only way we’ve been successful is through diversion,” he said.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are focused on uniting local community public safety and mental health workers, said Staff Sergeant Carolle Dionne, provincial media relations coordinator. “We have implemented a mental health strategy internally, for our members and our communities, with a focus on early referrals to community support services for those who have mental health issues.”
“We’ve introduced a tool to aid officers communicate more professionally and consistently with medical health professionals. It’s called BRIEF. It’s a mental health screener and helps our front line officers to communicate with medical professionals why the person has been brought to the hospital for psychiatric assessment, because we’re not mental health workers. It allows our officers to write down the right information and ask the right questions.”
Over 1,000 OPP members have completed crisis intervention training. All officers must complete block training annually. This consists of a half day program for all front line officers. There is one-and-a-half hours of scenario training that is mandatory as well as theory. “The focus is on establishing a relationship of influence with persons in crisis,” said Sgt. Dionne, “as well as the importance of slowing down events and creating time when it is safe to do so, and how to utilize the tactics of time, distance and cover containment. Training also includes communication and teamwork relative to de-escalation.”
“This training began in 2016. In 2017 there was a half day of the same type of training, beginning with a review of 2016. The 2017 focus was on early intervention and utilizing a constructive approach with controlled containment of a dynamic situation. 2018 training was the same, with a review of 2016 and 2017. Officers learned how to deal with mental health including a focus on being trauma aware when dealing with persons in crisis,” explained Sgt. Dionne.
The OPP training supports the current initiatives by the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services to develop and standardize de-escalation training for the province of Ontario.
On a local level, the OPP Manitoulin-Espanola detachment is working on finalizing a memorandum of understanding for a transfer of care protocol between police and medical services. This initiative is a joint effort between OPP, UCCM Police services, Wikwemikong Tribal Police Service and local medical agencies and reduces the amount of time spent by officers at the hospital.
Are any of these strategies making a difference? Police Chief Nahwegahbow thinks so, and according to Derek Graham, president and CEO of Manitoulin Health Centre (MHC), the number of mental health and addictions (as primary reasons) visits to the two emergency department sites of MHC have decreased in 2017 (516 visits) and 2016 (501) following a spike in 2015 (574). Perhaps at risk persons are reaping the benefits of earlier intervention and receiving the right referrals to the right care sooner. The topic merits further study.
