Canadian police services ill equipped to deal with mental-health crises: psychologist

Canadian police services, which are already trying to reduce the use of force during operations, are facing a growing number of people in crisis.

A study shows 75 per cent of police-involved civilian fatalities involve an individual experiencing a mental health or drug abuse crisis.

A number of police forces pair up with mental-health personnel, but they’re usually only brought in after first-responders arrive and assess the situation.

Calgary psychologist Dr. Patrick Baillie says police do have mental-health professionals assigned to some officers.

“People want to get help – they can’t. And so big surprise we end up dealing with increasing numbers of calls because of people who have fallen not through our cracks but the cavernous holes we have in our system,” said Baillie.

The parents of a Calgary man who died seven years ago in a confrontation with police say more support for those in crisis needs to be adopted.

Anthony Heffernan, a recovering drug addict, was shot four times — including three shots to the head and neck — after police entered his motel room in 2015.

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Pat Heffernan says his son was in crisis and a health-care professional might have made a difference.

“It just seems that they’re just trying to escalate a situation rather than de-escalate,” said Baillie. “If they would’ve gone in calmly and… tried to be calm and talk through things it might have been a whole different story.”