Rising number of calls indicate growing mental health crisis, say police on P.E.I.

Police services across P.E.I. say they're seeing a steady increase in the number of mental health calls they receive year after year, with calls coming from people in crisis especially on the rise. 

In Charlottetown, police chief Brad MacConnell said he's watched the number of mental health-related calls go up consistently since at least 2018. 

There were 686 of those calls to city police that year, data provided to CBC by Charlottetown Police shows. That number grew to 1,918 calls in 2022.

It's an increase MacConnell said officers have noticed on the frontlines as well. 

"The mental health crisis is not getting any better. It's only getting worse. We're seeing increased numbers," he said. 

"There's also an anxiety that's in our community and in our province and in our country, I think, that we've never experienced before. The result is in our mental health calls." 

MacConnell said about 34 per cent of the calls made last year consistently came from the same six people, but there's also been an increase in the number of new callers as well. 

He said police are also responding to a significant increase in calls from people in crisis who are at risk of harming themselves or others.

"That should be alarming to everyone, and everyone should be talking about this," MacConnell said. 

Other communities also seeing increase

Summerside Police and P.E.I. RCMP have seen mental health calls rise as well, echoing MacConnell's concerns.  

In Summerside, the number of calls under the Mental Health Act jumped from 176 in 2019, to 310 last year.

So far in 2023, there have already been more than 130 mental health calls in the city.

Sgt. Jason Blacquiere said the number of well-being checks made by police in Summerside is also growing. Well-being checks often are related to mental health issues.

Meanwhile, RCMP Cst. Gavin Moore said there were more than 130 mental health calls to that police force last year compared to 2019, which made for an average of about three mental health calls per day. 

"The range of calls can vary considerably, everything from a wellness check all the way to someone who is a danger to themselves or others," Moore said. 

He said if a person is at risk of harming themselves or someone else, police can make an arrest under the Mental Health Act to get them medical attention. 

"In those situations there is a requirement, a need to provide safety for that person and the public," Moore said. 

"The role of police in these situations is to provide security, not only for that individual, but also for health professionals so that person can get the help they need."

Moore said RCMP are also seeing an increase in those more critical calls — especially those that require an officer to take a person to the hospital and stay with them until they get treatment, often for extended periods of time.

"That is a police officer off the road that can't be responding to other calls," he said. 

Police having to support mobile mental health units

In Charlottetown, the increase in critical mental health calls means police response is needed, rather than it being something the province's mobile mental health teams can deal with on their own.

According to the Department of Health and Wellness, police are only involved in 911 calls when there is a threat of violence or weapons. Otherwise, it is considered a medical call. 

"Oftentimes, these mental health calls come at a time of crisis for the person and they're sometimes dangerous situations," MacConnell said. 

"There were always going to be those calls, and we knew that with the formation of the mobile mental health teams."

We're not going to police our way out of the mental health crisis.- Brad MacConnell

MacConnell said police also get a lot of those mental health calls directly.

"We're not going to police our way out of the mental health crisis," he said. 

As of this March, Charlottetown police officers had responded to mental health calls alongside the mobile mental health units 22 times since the program began in 2021.

Police data shows in that same time period, they referred 15 calls to the mobile mental health teams. The teams sent 14 calls to police. 

"It's certainly not at the rate it needs to be," MacConnell said.

"Like any new model, there's room for improvement. We're happy to be players in that equation to do our part."

He said the formation of the mental health teams is a positive thing, but both agencies are still figuring out how to best work together. 

"I'm confident that we'll improve our services in the way we refer people." 

CBC News asked the P.E.I. government for its policy on when mobile mental health units should be responding to those calls, and when police should respond. 

The Health Department said mobile mental health teams "collaborated with community groups and agencies to ensure best-practice methods are utilized to provide mental health supports." 

It said police have been involved in about 10 per cent of all mobile mental health unit field visits.

This includes the mobile units working with law enforcement agencies "to ensure that the individuals in crisis receive appropriate, specialized care, and safe transportation to a treatment facility when required."