Police would have responded to Beau Baker's 911 call same way today as in 2015, inquest told

The 911 call made by Beau Baker on April 2, 2015 would be treated the same way today — as a criminal call that required police officers to respond.

That's what Waterloo Regional Police Service Staff Supt. John Goodman told a coroner's inquest into the fatal shooting of Beau Baker Wednesday.

"We had an individual with a weapon, threatening to stab EMS workers, threatening to stab bystanders walking down the street," Goodman told the inquest, which is being held virtually.

"This call had a mental health component, but this was actually a criminal call."

Beau Baker, 20, was shot and killed by a Waterloo Regional Police Service officer in April 2015 outside Bakers' home on Brybeck Crescent in Kitchener, Ont. Baker had called 911 threatening to kill himself and harm others. Baker's family has said he had "documented mental health issues." Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, said there were no reasonable grounds to charge the officer in Baker's death

An inquest into Baker's death is mandatory under the Ontario Coroners Act. The inquest into Baker's death began on March 20, 2023 and is being held virtually out of Toronto. The jury in a coroner's inquest makes recommendations to prevent future similar deaths. Read all of CBC's coverage of the coroner's inquest here.

Beau Baker, 20, was fatally shot by a Waterloo Regional Police Services officer on April 2, 2015 outside an apartment complex at 77 Brybeck Cres. in Kitchener.

An autopsy report presented at the inquest said the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso and other significant conditions were multiple non-lethal gunshot wounds to his torso and limbs. He was pronounced dead at 10:10 p.m. at St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener.

The officer's actions were found to be legally justified by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) six months later. The SIU report said Baker was armed with a knife when he was shot.

An inquest into Beau Baker's death is mandatory under the Coroners Act. The inquest's jury will not make a judgment of guilt, but rather can make recommendations to prevent future deaths in similar circumstances.

How police handle crisis calls

Goodman talked about the steps that were taken in 2015, and what is done now, when a crisis call comes into the call centre.

He said police try to get as much information as possible and assess whether an a mental health support worker needs to attend.

That procedure hasn't changed since 2015, he said, with the exception of the service's recent call diversion program, which connects a person in crisis to a mental health crisis worker.

Goodman walked the jury through how the service responds to mental health crisis calls through its IMPACT program in partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association. 

The program started in 2007, when it was known as a mobile crisis team (MCT), and now operates with the service's addition of a crisis call diversion program.

If there is a threat to safety or if weapons are involved, Goodman said the IMPACT worker is not dispatched until police have the situation under control. That was the same protocol in 2015.

No crisis workers available when Baker died

Goodman confirmed there were no crisis workers available on the day Baker died. Even if there were, he said they would not have been dispatched because of the threat to safety.

"There were some serious issues for people and we would never bring a crisis worker into that situation until we had it under control," Goodman said.

Goodman added the call would also not have been put through the diversion program had it been in place in 2015.

Goodman said the service had also just purchased conducted energy weapons for frontline officers in March 2015, but implementation and full training for officers to use the devices was not in place at the time of Baker's death.

In testimony given last week by Eric Boynton — who is now a patrol staff sergeant with the police service but was a patrol constable when he shot Baker in 2015 — the inquest heard neither officer who responded to the scene had a conducted electrical weapon.

Goodman said going forward, he would like to see more funds go toward the service's IMPACT and call diversion program, which only has funding until 2025.

"Our goal, in November, was to reduce call demand by 20 per cent. In January, February and March of this year we have been able to manage that," he said.

"If we had more coverage and more IMPACT workers, we're hoping we can increase this percentage of diversion."

The inquest continues.