Mental health, victims chief ’s priorities
The new chief of Niagara Regional Police says he’d like to improve regional victims’ services programs and improve mental health services for officers.
“PTSD is real. It happens, and it affects our officers,” said Bryan MacCulloch Tuesday during a oneon-one interview.
“If we can help care for our officers, make them more resilient and help them cope with the things they see on the job, then we have to. If we cannot look after our own people, they cannot then look after the community.”
MacCulloch was named next chief of police on Sept. 28, who replaces Jeff McGuire, who MacCulloch had served as deputy chief.
After McGuire retired as chief, MacCulloch was appointed acting chief by the police services board. He will be officially sworn in as chief on Oct 27 at a ceremony at Club Italia.
Born in Thorold and raised in St. Catharines, MacCulloch said he wanted to be a cop since he was a teenager, influenced by the uncle of a neighbourhood friend who was an NRP officer.
“He told me stories about what it was like to be a police officer — without disclosing anything confidential — and it seemed like a job I wanted. It seemed like a job where I could help people and make a difference,” MacCulloch said.
Over the course of his nearly 33-year career with the NRP, MacCulloch has been a frontline patrol officer, a detective in the fraud and major crimes units, and the executive assistant to former deputy chief Gary Beaulieu, a man he said had a substantial influence on his career.
“I learned a great deal from Gary, who was an exemplary police leader and when I eventually became a deputy chief under Jeff McGuire, I tried to follow the example that Gary set,” he said.
Still, MacCulloch hadn’t planned on ever becoming the NRP’s top cop. His contract as deputy was set to expire the same time as McGuire’s and, at the time, he was planning that to be end of his career.
However, when McGuire decided to retire before the end of his contract, MacCulloch had to revaluate his vision for the end of his policing career.
Still feeling he has more to give the service, and after long discussions with his wife Debbie and his four children, the 53-year-old decided to take the step up.
“No, I hadn’t originally planned on it, but the board offered me an opportunity. I have served the NRP for nearly 33 years, and I felt I could still contribute and make a difference,” he said.
As chief, the buck on several key policing issues will stop now stop with MacCulloch, including the police budget, grappling with the growing opioid crisis and finding better ways for police to interact with people in mental health crises.
His predecessor had pointed to mental health calls as a growing concern. Police are often the first responders to people in crisis, although police officers are not mental health experts. McGuire said some days mental health calls can consume 70 per cent of calls for service.
MacCulloch said not all calls of persons in crisis are police issues, and a response from a health professional would be more appropriate and beneficial.
“Imagine if you had a heart attack and you called 911, and the first responder was a police officer. There would be a real outcry in the community,” said MacCulloch, who has already begun to have conservations with Niagara Emergency Medical Services to improve how mental health calls are managed. The new chief also said he wants to improve victims’ services in Niagara.
“I have been a board member for Victims Services Niagara for a long time,” he said. “We do a good job at victims’ services. But we can be excellent at it, and I would like to see us do that.”