Calls from people in emotional crisis are going down, Sudbury police report

Sudbury police say they only alerted the public to recent incidents involving people in emotional distress because the situation was disrupting traffic at a downtown bridge.

Inspector Sara Cunningham says otherwise they don't generally discuss the 1,800 mental health crisis calls they respond to every year.

"Because somebody's crisis is very different from somebody else's crisis. These two incidents over the weekend, they were very different."

Cunningham says she is certain that the second incident involving a person in emotional distress on Sunday was not inspired by publicity of the first one on Friday night.

Ontario's police watchdog is currently investigating the death of a 53-year-old woman, who fell from Sudbury's Bridge on Nations on Friday evening. On Sunday evening a 26-year-old man in emotional distress was 'de-escalated' at the bridge and brought to hospital.

Sudbury police are working with the hospital on a new mobile mental health team to respond to incidents like these, and Cunningham says the hope is to to have it up and running by the end of next month.

"This will ... allow our officers to have somebody there with them who has the expertise and the training," Cunningham said.

"At the end of the day, a lot of these calls don't require a police officer to be responding when somebody is in crisis. And so now we're going to take the proper professionals along with us in hopes of resolving these without incident and that the individuals seek the medical care that they need."

Cunningham says the police term "individual in crisis" spans a wide range of situations.

"It could be somebody that may want to end their life. It also might be someone who, in times of COVID, have lost their job. We use crisis as a very general term."

Police don't alert the public to these kinds of situations as a rule, she notes.

Cunningham adds the number of calls for individuals who are in crisis is trending downward.

In 2018 they had just over 2,000 calls. In 2019 they had 1,885 calls.

"In 2020 our general calls for service were down," she said. "We saw a huge decrease in calls for service due to COVID. Many people retreated inwards and weren't out and about."

Cunningham said she wonders if more people are seeking supports from community organizations.

Where to get help:

In Sudbury, you can call the Health Sciences North crisis line at 1-877-841-1101.

The Canadian Mental Health Association crisis line is 1-866-285-2642.

Canada Suicide Prevention Service: 1-833-456-4566 (Phone) | 45645 (Text, 4 p.m. to midnight ET only) crisisservicescanada.ca

In Quebec (French): Association québécoise de prévention du suicide: 1-866-APPELLE (1-866-277-3553)

Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (Phone), Live Chat counselling at www.kidshelpphone.ca

Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre