The City of Victoria will re-emphasize its position of wanting to ensure that police resources are not spent on officers accompanying people detained under the Mental Health Act while they are being treated in hospital.
The province did not accept the idea put forward by Victoria, which would see special municipal police waiting with individuals instead of officers.
The city said the time commitments of officers waiting in hospitals are a drain on police resources, and security guards with special police designation could take over the duties to alleviate the problem.
But the province, in a letter from the ministers of public safety and mental health, told the city that a police presence is a public safety requirement.
When an officer detains someone under the Mental Health Act, the officer waits until a doctor has completed a psychiatric evaluation to determine if the person meets the criteria for involuntary detention or treatment. If those criteria are met, responsibility for the individual is transferred from the police to a designated mental health facility.
Rejecting the capital’s request, the letter added that Victoria should have her police department and board examine the proposal for themselves. The letter said that Island Health and the Victoria Police Department are co-chairing a South Island Task Force focused on police waiting times.
A VicPD spokesperson told Black Press Media that the department supported the city’s proposal because it would allow officers to return to active duty instead of waiting in the hospital.
“The city’s proposal would add greater efficiency at a time when we badly need it,” said VicPD’s Bowen Osoko.
Councilmembers noted that they have discussed multiple times how a police response is inappropriate for those struggling with mental health issues.
The council approved measures on September 8 that will see the city ask the province to reconsider and emphasize how the city is bearing the costs of officers waiting alongside patients. The city is asking the province to allow alternative responders or special agents to monitor hospital situations in a timely manner.
The city will also emphasize where its proposal aligns with the recommendations of the BC special committee on Police Law reform.
That report noted that a large portion of calls to the police are related to mental health and that the public security ministry itself said that “police response to mental health crisis events affects the ability to provide frontline police services. and it is largely due to a lack of cross-coordination and collaboration.” government approach.
Some health care groups also told the committee that police presence during a mental health situation often increases conflict and negates the ability of health care workers to build trust and assert the autonomy and dignity of the patient. patient.
VicPD told the commission that policing is, and will continue to be, an important part of the response to mental health crises “where there is an immediate or potential real or perceived threat to public safety, or as required by statute.” .
Victoria will also write to other nearby municipalities, asking them to make similar pleas to the province if their police or RCMP departments are experiencing similar problems with officer resources earmarked for hospital waits.
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