Halifax RCMP say responding to mental health calls shouldn't be part of mandate

Halifax RCMP say their community policing pilot project has been a success so far, but officers shouldn't be the first to respond to mental health calls.

The 18-month long Community Action Response Team was created to address calls related to youth and adults who are chronically involved with police, people experiencing mental health issues and those who are displaced.

In a presentation to the Board of Police Commissioners Wednesday, Sgt. Deepak Prasad said the unit has been able to direct people like veterans, seniors and at-risk youth to appropriate services and reduce the number of repeated calls.

Becky Kent, the board's chair, said the program is still in its early stages, but the results are promising.

"It's encouraging because it gets our officers out in the community building relationships, building partnerships to support the schools, the youth in the community at large," Kent told CBC News.

Commissioner Lisa Blackburn also supported the project, applauding its efforts at prevention and de-escalation.

"I'd like to hope that it's something that continues because I've seen it make a real difference in the community," she said.

But while the team does respond to some mental health-related incidents, RCMP say those calls shouldn't be their primary mandate because the unit isn't properly staffed or equipped to handle those situations.

Instead, the calls should be diverted to non-police organizations.

"They can't be the mobile mental health response team. They just can't be," said Jeff Christie, chief superintendent of the Halifax RCMP.

Recent recommendations from the Mass Casualty Commission have also called on police to not be involved with mental health calls.

Services in Halifax area are 'inconsistent'

Halifax Regional Police (HRP) operates a similar but separate program with Nova Scotia Health called the Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team.

A recent report to Halifax council said HRP and Halifax RCMP aren't properly integrated and "both have either different, duplicative or inconsistent community partnerships." It also said services were inconsistent between the organizations.

The report adds that if redundancies within the two forces were resolved, community safety units like the RCMP's pilot project could have more resources.

The Community Action Response Team pilot is continuing to operate, and a full report on its performance will come back to the Board of Police Commissioners at a later date.