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Police act as mental health officers: report
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by Rob Peters | February 4, 2008 at 11:45 am
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A new report from the Vancouver Police Department finds that officers are spending a big chunk of their time doing a job they're not trained for--front-line mental health management.
The report, titled Lost in Transition, highlights the need for more resources in policing people with mental health issues. Given the recent police Taser incident that resulted in the death of Robert Dziekanski, as well as last year's fatal police shooting of a man during a bipolar episode, I'd say change is overdue.
Some mental health experts say a new report by the Vancouver Police Department highlights a staggering gap in services for mentally ill people.The leaked report by VPD Det. Fiona Wilson-Bates is to be released Monday morning.
It says that police have become the "de facto" front-line mental health workers of the city.
During a 16-day period in September 2007, police tracked their response to emergency calls.
They found that one-third of the calls involved people with serious mental health problems.
More and more, police say they find themselves trying to get medical help or a place to stay for mentally ill people, and it's gobbling up millions of dollars in police time.
The result is that money is being spent on crisis management, instead of long-term solutions, said Kerry Jang, a University of British Columbia psychiatry professor.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)
at 16:13 on February 4th, 2008
Hello Rob,
The fallout of that of course, is that many members of the police also end up with psychological issues as a direct result from having to handle these situations. It's a Catch-22 situation - with no real solution in sight.
~ Swan
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