Mental health calls growing concern

Two Niagara Regional Police officers did everything right in responding to a mental health call last year, says a provincial police watchdog. However, local police leaders say the Welland man’s subsequent suicide highlights the ongoing problem of officers acting as the first, and often only, responder to mental health calls.

In a June 22 report by the Special Investigations Unit — which investigates incidents of injury or death involving the police — found two officers who responded to a March 2016 call about an elderly man threatening suicide “did everything possible under the circumstances to determine whether the complainant ... was actively suicidal. There was nothing about his physical appearance or emotional presentation that would suggest that he was incapable of caring for himself.”

The day after the officers spoke to the man, his body was found in the Welland Canal. The coroner determined the man died from drowning and hypothermia, the SIU report says.

“This was, frankly, a real stretch of the SIU’s mandate,” said Cliff Priest, president of the Niagara Region Police Association which represents the NRP’s frontline and civilian staff. Unlike other SIU investigations that might follow a shooting or police chase, Priest said there wasn’t anything for the watchdog to investigate in this case.

“It’s very discouraging for our members,” said Priest, who noted NRP officers are responding to record high number of mental health related calls.

While police officers get some training to help people in crisis and handle mental health calls, cops are not therapists.

“We are not mental health experts. We get some training, but you can measure that in weeks. Someone who is an expert, who goes to college or university, measures that in hundreds or thousands of hours,” Priest said. “When I was on the road, I would maybe respond to maybe one mental health call a week. Today, our members will respond to a dozen to 20, sometimes in a single shift.

“The trouble is, right now, who you gonna call? There are no Ghostbusters. The police are the first and only call you can make.”

On March 31, a person called the NRP about an elderly man attempting to drown himself in the Welland Canal. The caller said the man was being restrained by another person.

According to the SIU report, the “very elderly man” had been to his doctor that day complaining about pain in his needs and asked for a “fatal injection so that he could die with dignity.”

The report says the doctor gave the man morphine, but it does not indicate what kind of dose the physician gave him.

Two officers arrived to speak to the man who was found seated on a bench on the east bank of the canal.

The report says he appeared calm and relaxed and denied having suicidal thoughts or having said anything about wanting to harm himself.

“He was calm and cooperative, answering all questions clearly,” the report says. “He appeared to be well taken care of and in good health and was appropriately dressed for the weather. He did not appear depressed, but rather was laughing and joking.”

The officers found no indication the man needed emotional or physical assistance.

The officers did call in Niagara paramedics nevertheless. However, the man refused to allow them to examine him. He also declined an offer to go to the hospital or speak to a mental health worker.

The officers then drove the man home, who thanked them for the ride, the report says.

On April 1, 2016, the man’s body was found in the canal. No drugs were found in his system.

The SIU’s investigator Tony Loparco found no fault with the actions of the officers.

Acting NRP Chief Bryan MacCulloch said the SIU decided to conduct an investigation because the man had died so soon after having an interaction with the officers.

“But, as you can see in the report, our officers did everything they were supposed to do,” he said.

Although MacCulloch did not have statistics immediately available Monday, he said NRP officers are constantly called upon to respond to mental health crises.

“It is common for police across Ontario and across the country, frankly,” he said.

Last week, outgoing NRP Chief Jeff McGuire said during a 12-hour shift, up to 70 per cent of police calls can involve mental health issues, and this has become a significant driver of rising policing costs.

MacCulloch said the service has partnered with local agencies to provide people in distress with access to appropriate services, including having mental health workers patrol with officers in downtown St. Catharines. Officers in other locations can also consult with mental health experts over the phone when dealing with a call.

The problem, MacCulloch said, is that the NRP does not have 24-hour a day, seven days a week access to experts, and officers often have to rely on their own judgment and training.

However, the powers of a police officer to handle a mental health case can be limited. MacCulloch noted in the case the SIU investigated, the elderly man showed no indication of an issue that would permit the officers to take him into custody under the Mental Health Act.

Priest said if officers do take someone into custody and bring them to a hospital, they often have to stay with the person until the hospital can take them in.

“The issue is not as bad in St. Catharines now (where the regional mental health unit is located), but if you are in Welland or Fort Erie or Port Colborne, our members can be waiting for hours until the hospital can take a patient,” he said.

That wait prevents those officers from responding to other calls.

Priest said there needs to be a serious political discussion of how to handle mental health calls in Ontario. However, that discussion isn’t happening, leaving local police services to manage the issue on their own.