Q&A: This retired London cop gives 'unfiltered' glimpse into homelessness crisis in new documentary
Atrocity premieres at the Forest City Film Festival on Sunday at 4:30 p.m.
It's billed as an "unfiltered exploration of homelessness."
Screening at the Forest City Film Festival Sunday, the documentary Atrocity is a passion project of a retired police sergeant with the London Police Service.
Nigel Stuckey, who worked for more than three decades in the police force, set out to share the stories and struggles of some of London's most vulnerable — those living through homelessness, addiction and mental health crises.
He heads out to city streets, under bridges and into forests to hear first-hand experiences to challenge stigmas while raising concerns about lack of supports.
Atrocity premieres at the Forest City Film Festival in London this Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at the Wolf Performance Hall.
LISTEN: Nigel Stuckey's new documentary takes a hard look at the addictions crisis in London
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
CBC: Why did you set out to make this film?
Nigel Stuckey: I live in London. I worked in policing for 32 years and I do live downtown. I really believed that it was a story that needed to be told. And I wanted to really find out what was going on without the barrier of the uniform.
CBC: What about this crisis is most concerning to you as a retired police officer?
NS: I would say it's a lack of mental health services. We have people in downtown London who have serious mental health conditions and are not getting treatment. One of the things I allude to in the film is that there's sort of an area in between where people are apprehensible. They're not violent or dangerous themselves, but they're also not functional — and those people are slipping through the cracks.
That mental health is prohibiting them from being able to move forward, but it's also opening the door for them to self-medicate. So a lot of them are turning to illicit drugs and are basically treating themselves, which then amplifies the problem. Mental health in combination with illicit drugs is an absolutely terrible combination.
CBC: What have you learned from interviewing people for your film?
NS: I now look at people on the street as many of them are medically compromised. And when we take that view of things, instead of seeing them as like they're the problem, or they've done something wrong, or they've made decisions that are bad, we now look at it through a different lens. And that lens is, in fact, that they have a medical condition, whether it be mental health, addiction or physical disabilities.
They're not getting the treatment they require and in fact, we have many people on the street who are medically compromised without appropriate medical treatment and that is an atrocity.
CBC: What was the reaction from the people you spoke with?
NS: Everybody I spoke to was more than happy to talk. These are people that have a story and want to be heard and a lot of them are ignored. After I spoke with one young man, he just thanked me for talking to him. You can imagine, every day you're sitting in a busy street and nobody's making eye contact with you. Everybody's walking by you acting like you're invisible. You can imagine what an impact that has on your psyche, and how difficult that is for your own emotional and mental health to be in that circumstance.
CBC: What do you want people to take away from this film?
NS: Two things. That there is an atrocity happening in our city. There are people in our city who are in dire circumstances who are medically compromised and are basically left alone in the winter with very few resources.
And secondly, to look at people who are experiencing homelessness in a different light. Instead, look at them as being medically compromised and understand that they are in many ways in an impossible situation.