Mental illness patients strain Canada's police forces

Too many people who live with mental illness are being released from provincial institutions before they're ready, then going on to commit crimes, say Canada's police chiefs.

The candid comments were made Wednesday in Winnipeg, on the final day of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) annual general meeting.

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Jim Chu, president of the CACP, called on governments to "step-up" and provide adequate care and facilities for the mentally ill.

"Police should not be the front-line on mental health issues," he said.

"Lack of funding in the health care system is putting these people on the streets. We need to shift from a point of crisis to preventing the crisis from occurring in the first place."

Often, people living with mental illness take up too much of an officer's time, and it's a problem right across the country, said Chu.

Winnipeg police chief Devon Clunis said the city pays out large amounts of overtime for police to deal with people living with mental illness.

He remembers one time when he spent an entire shift in hospital with a person with mental illness.

A Winnipeg man who has battled drug addiction and mental illness says he believes it, because he himself used up a lot of police officers' time.

Robert Graham said in spite of that, he was always treated well and for that, he's thankful.

"They could have easily have taken me to jail," he said. "But they saw what the issue was and that was that I was intoxicated. So they took me to the Main Street Project."

"The one incident I remember is that I took a swing and luckily I was taken to the drunk tank instead of charged with assault."

Graham said more should be done to keep people with mental illnesses out of the criminal justice system.

Each year Winnipeg police take up to 800 mentally ill people to emergency rooms.

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says on average officers wait between four and six hours each time.

Dr. Murray Enns of the WRHA agree with police, that more needs to be done before the mentally ill come in contact with police.

"We're highly sympathetic to the issues of police and the concerns of police," he said. "We're of course on board with the idea of developing more mental health services to help keep people well."

The Vancouver police department has a provision under the mental health act to arrest a person if they are suffering from a mental disorder and are a danger to themselves or the public.

In 2002, Vancouver police apprehended 539 people and in 2013, the number shot up to 2,636.

It's a five-fold increase that ties up extensive police resources as they wait with the person in emergency rooms, Chu said.

Although the chiefs agree more needs to be done, they wouldn't be more specific about how things need to change.