Peel police tout benefits of mental health crisis teams at safe cities conference

September 18, 2024 Canuck

Over 400 delegates from police forces across North America have gathered at a hotel in Mississauga this week to discuss improving community safety — specifically, how to better handle mental health crisis calls.

The gathering comes as Peel police marks nearly five years of deploying Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Teams, which are made up of uniformed officers and crisis workers, to handle such calls.

Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah said there’s value in having other police forces who implemented similar programs all gathered in the same space.

“None of us is as smart as all of us,” said Duraiappah Monday, the first day of the three-day conference his service is hosting.

“The reality is we’re learning from each other in ways that transcend municipal, provincial, Canadian, international boundaries,” Duraiappah said.

This is the second year for the Safety of Our Cities Conference, previously held in Edmonton, and attended by social agencies, public health professionals and government officials, as well as police officers.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina standing in front of a blue backdrop and addressing the media at the conference — Albuquerque police Chief Harold Medina says use of force by his officers decreased by over 50% in the first year after the force started filtering mental health calls to professionals. (Mehrdad Nazarahari/CBC)

Police forces across North America seeing benefits

Speaking to the media as the conference kicked off, chiefs from multiple police forces attested to the success of their own crisis response systems, many of which were launched in the U.S. amid a national reckoning over police violence following the death of George Floyd.

Albuquerque police Chief Harold Medina said redirecting crisis calls to trained professionals helped them reduce their officers’ use of force.

“When you look at the interactions they’re able to de-escalate through their training and through their background and their expertise as opposed to our officers, it’s a win-win,” he said.

Nashville police Chief John Drake said his force has seen similar benefits.

“What we’re seeing is we can’t do this alone,” he said.

Peel police say they implemented their own program in a bid to better handle mental health related calls and refer people to community-based services, after seeing programs implemented by other Ontario police forces result in significant reductions in the number of apprehensions under the Mental Health Act.

The goal is to make sure people aren’t criminalized for having a mental health crisis, said Sinthusha Panchalingam, senior clinical director with the Canadian Mental Health Association Peel-Dufferin, which responds to calls alongside Peel police.

“Oftentimes, it’s just taking a moment to listen to understand what their concerns are,” she said.

“If we can avoid any escalation, that’s really our primary focus.”

Family questions if Peel program is enough

However, the sister of a man who died shortly after his arrest while in the midst of a mental health crisis last year, says she doesn’t think the program is successful.

Peter Campbell, 34, was arrested in the hallway of a Brampton apartment on April 2, 2023. He died shortly after an officer put his knee on his back for 20 seconds in an attempt to subdue him. Last month, Ontario’s police watchdog cleared an officer in Peel Region of criminal wrongdoing in his death.

Campbell’s sister, Michelle Campbell, told CBC Toronto that Peel’s crisis team wasn’t there to attend to her brother when he needed them.

A man with a goatee and wearing a black sweater looks at the camera. — Peter Campbell, 34, died on April 2, 2023 after Peel Regional Police officers responded to a call from his sister, saying that he was experiencing a mental health crisis. (Submitted by Michelle Campbell)

She said if she or someone else in her family was having a mental health crisis, she wouldn’t call the police for help.

“I’m supposed to trust them to come and protect and serve, but now I’m terrified to even call them,” she said. “It’s a crazy position to be in.”

Campbell’s death follows the cases of Abdullah Darwich, a 19-year-old with autism who is non-verbal, was Tasered and handcuffed by Peel police in 2022; Ejaz Choudry, who had schizophrenia and was shot and killed by Peel police in 2020, after his family called a non-emergency line for help when he was in crisis; and D’Andre Campbell, who also had schizophrenia and was fatally shot by Peel police in 2020 after he called for help himself.

Peel police has not yet responded to a CBC Toronto request for information about how many of the calls responded to by the crisis team resulted in someone being apprehended or taken to hospital compared to before the program was implemented.

John Versluis, the Manager of Community Safety and Well-Being at Peel Regional Police, standing in front of a blue backdrop as he speaks — John Versluis, the manager of community safety and well-being at Peel Regional Police, said the police force is trying to push the program’s resources as far as they can go. (Mehrdad Nazarahari/CBC)

Peel police’s manager of community safety and well-being said the force is trying to push the program’s resources as far as they can go.

“It’s always a resource issue for both us and our community partners to make sure we have those experts where we need them,” John Versluis said.

“A lot of these calls don’t require police at all,” he said. “Oftentimes, individuals will phone 911 for themselves or a loved one because they don’t know where else to go.”

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