City police to create `council' for mental health response
Community organizations to identify possible members for oversight group
Ottawa police will task a “guiding council” with developing a community-led plan for a new mental health response.
Police released the preliminary plans on Wednesday as part of its agenda for Monday's police board meeting.
In 2020, the service announced it would reshape its response to people in mental health crises as a community-led initiative. That came after multiple appeals from community groups and the public to change the way police respond to mental health calls.
The effort to create that new response, “while initiated by the OPS, will be co-created and led by an arm's-length Guiding Council, made up of representatives selected by five community networks who will help us better-understand the needs of the community, gather and share information, and drive this initiative forward,” the report said.
The five networks — the Champlain
Mental Health & Addictions Network, Kids Come First — Mental Health & Addictions, the Community Development Framework Coalition, the Ottawa Black Mental Health Coalition and the Ottawa Local Immigration Partnership — are to identify possible members for this council, which would also include members from the City of Ottawa and Ottawa Public Heath.
A special secretariat funded by police, public health and the city will also be created, police said.
“This approach represents unprecedented community involvement with the OPS. We are committed to working with these partners on an ongoing basis over the long-term to address this critical issue.”
Police have not yet committed to what a public consultation plan will look like, saying instead that the final plan will be determined by the as-yet unformed council. Some combination of an online questionnaire and outreach to and interviews with mental health professionals, other related specialists, the public and police officers is being considered, according to the report to the board.
Police said they expect public consultations to begin this spring.
The service said officers respond to more than 6,000 mental health calls annually.
The overall mental health strategy “will include a review of and improvements to how police respond to people in mental health crisis. It will also include measures to build and support more coordinated systems that better ensure access to appropriate mental health and substance use/addiction supports for people in our community,” according to the report.
“We also recognize that we have a duty of care, and that we can do a better job responding to people struggling with mental health challenges. This is, at its heart, an issue of public trust.”
Police intend to roll out specialized mental health training to officers this year.
The police board is expected to receive the report on Monday. Nineteen public delegations are scheduled to present at that meeting, 10 of whom are scheduled to speak directly to this plan.