'Not sustainable' for police to be 1st responders to mental health, addictions crisis: police chief
Chief highlights new partnerships with health-care providers as he asks for more help
Windsor's chief of police told the police services board on Thursday it's not sustainable for officers to be the lead agency on mental health and addictions emergency calls.
The police board, led by Mayor Drew Dilkens, wants the federal and provincial levels of government to spend more money on support programs. The board has also renewed calls for a mental health emergency response centre in Windsor.
Chief Jason Bellaire, under questioning by board member and city councillor Jo-Anne Gignac, said officers are responding to mental health and addictions calls that they are not subject experts in.
"We've seen the occasional bad consequences of that," he told the board.
Bellaire said that the service, which operates on a near $100-million budget that is 20 per cent of the city's net operating budget, does not get enough money from upper levels of government to continue acting as the lead agency on emergency mental health calls.
"Not even close," he said.
"I do think its going to get better but it's not sustainable."
Police asking partners to do more
Gignac started the discussion after reviewing an annual report of statistics tracked through Ontario's Risk-driven Tracking Database.
The report outlines local priorities different community agencies share related to public safety.
It highlighted that mental health was the top risk factor to public safety across the province.
"I think the evidence is pretty darn clear," said Gignac.
"We're really struggling especially as larger cities in terms of the reality of mental health issues and drug addictions."
Bellaire highlighted partnerships that police have been part of in recent years as ways the service is trying to adjust how it responds to calls that involve people in crisis.
That includes programs that sees a Windsor police officer work with Family Services Windsor-Essex, who do outreach with people who are homeless, and the Nurse and Police Team that pairs emergency department nurses with police office.
"I do think the other providers need to do more," Bellaire told the board on Thursday.
"I'm the chief of police and I'm asking for help."
Bellaire, who was not available to speak with media after the public meeting, did not say who those providers are.
Not a municipal provision, says mayor
Windsor's mayor acts as chair of the police services board.
Dilkens spoke to reporters after the meeting and renewed calls for a specialized location that is accepts patients experiencing a mental health crisis that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"In some ways, it feels like our our advocacy isn't being heard, but I would say that that's probably the case across the province of Ontario and throughout the country," he said.
Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare has announced plans to bring a 24/7 mental health crisis centre to Windsor but the original application was rejected because it was not comprehensive enough.
HDGH has said it will work with community partners to resubmit an application.
Dilkens said that there needs to be more mental health and addictions services in Windsor but that it's the responsibility of the federal and provincial government, not the city.
"At the end of the day, if there were almost any other physical health injury, a broken leg, people wouldn't tolerate the lack of service that they're getting on the mental health front," he said.
Province highlights previously announced partnerships
A spokesperson for Ontario's health minister Sylvia Jones told CBC News that the provincial government is working with first responders to get people experiencing a mental health crisis "the right care, in the right place, from the right provider."
They highlighted the Mobile Crisis Response Team which is paid for by the province and was first launched in Windsor two years ago. The team pairs health professionals with police officers and responds to about 1,000 calls each year in the city where someone is experiencing a mental health crisis.
The government also created Safe Beds in Windsor, the spokesperson said, which operates four beds in a treatment facility that police can refer people experiencing a crisis to.
That service was launched in 2020 and expanded its hours to be open 24 hours a day earlier this year.
Windsor also has a Mental Health and Addictions Response Team, which is a partnership between Essex Windsor EMS and HDGH that pairs social workers with paramedics who respond to 911 calls that are going through a low-to-moderate severity mental health crisis.