Mental health an issue in man’s verbal aggression

Saanich police do not believe there are safety concerns for the public after a woman reported a man for making sexualized comments to her while walking on a trail near Cedar Hill Golf Course last week. Another woman reported the same man for being verbally aggressive toward her in the same area last summer.

Police identified and located the man on Wednesday and believe his actions are related to mental-health challenges and that he does not pose a threat to public safety. Police are not considering any charges.

Saanich police spokesman Const. Markus Anastasiades said the man’s comments were “disturbing,” but not criminal, and the man lacked the intent to cause harm. “Some people with mentalhealth [issues], they do speak out loud and make people feel very uncomfortable with what they’re saying, but they don’t necessarily know what they’re saying,” Anastasiades said.

He said the woman did the right thing in reporting the incident to police. “I can certainly see how this person must have felt after he said these comments to her. Very upsetting in nature,” he said. “We would encourage anybody that experiences something like this to report it to police, so that we can follow up with the individual.”

Members of the Integrated Mobile Crisis Response — an emergency team made up of mental-health and addictionsservices workers, child and youth mental-health workers and Greater Victoria police forces — will assess the man and try to address his actions.

The team. run by Island Health, provides crisis assessment and responds to mentalhealth and substance-use concerns seven days a week. It serves southern Vancouver Island, from Port Renfrew to the Malahat and Sidney, and provides phone consultation to the Gulf Islands.