The mayoral candidate stated he does not consider the general public has been effectively served by the service when there are 911 psychological well being calls
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Mayoral candidate Bob Chiarelli is proposing adjustments to the way in which the Ottawa Police Service handles psychological well being calls.
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Chiarelli, who was Ottawa’s mayor from 2001 to 2006 and has served as a Liberal MPP in Queen’s Park, advised this newspaper’s editorial board on Monday that he desires the Royal Ottawa Hospital to companion with the police.
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“I consider we’ve not been well-served by the system when there are 911 wellness calls,” Chiarelli stated. “The present state of affairs must be considerably improved for the security and safety of each the police and the people who find themselves concerned within the harmful conditions that police are referred to as in for.”
Chiarelli stated his proposal would contain the creation of a gaggle of psychological well being professionals who would attend emergency calls alongside police.
“I proposed that we created a partnership between the Ottawa Police Service and the Royal Ottawa Hospital whereby the ROH places collectively a roster of maybe 10 to fifteen psychological well being professionals who will be referred to as upon to hitch the police response,” he stated. “The psychological well being skilled(s) from the record (could be) obtainable on the time of the decision. We placed on a vest to determine them clearly and go to the scene of the incident. Protocols would have been developed on how the crew handles usually harmful conditions.”
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The OPS presently has a psychological well being unit that has existed for greater than 20 years. Its officers work with psychological well being nurses from The Ottawa Hospital on calls the place individuals are recognized to have had prior psychological well being emergencies. They hyperlink members of the general public with neighborhood sources and help techniques, throughout and following a disaster, in accordance with the OPS.
In late 2020, the drive introduced it will make investments $1.5 million into a brand new, community-led psychological well being response technique, partly in response to criticism it obtained over the 2016 loss of life of Abdirahman Abdi, a 37-year-old Somali Canadian with a historical past of psychological well being points. Abdi died after a violent confrontation with police.
Requested concerning the feasibility of getting psychological well being professionals obtainable throughout a healthcare employee scarcity, Chiarelli pointed to Toronto, which has already begun dispatching nurses and psychological well being professionals to some requires individuals in disaster and stated it has labored with the RCMP in Ontario’s north.
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“It’s not creating new floor right here. It’s been performed,” he stated.
Chiarelli stated he had consulted with former police chiefs: “This was performed with some session and never simply out of my hat,” he stated.
The Royal Ottawa Hospital didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The OPS responds to hundreds of psychological well being calls every year, the in accordance with a doc delivered to the police board final 12 months. The service had been growing a Psychological Well being Response Technique at the side of psychological healthcare and addictions professionals, and community-based organizations to enhance outcomes for these with psychological well being issues.
Mayoral candidate Mark Sutcliffe has pledged to sit down on the Ottawa Police Companies Board and guarantee each Ottawa area is represented on the board. However Chiarelli advised this newspaper he wouldn’t sit on the board. “My sense is there ought to be some independence between the senior political individual (and the police board),” he stated.
Candidate Catherine McKenney (who makes use of the pronouns they/them) has referred to as for extra “efficient policing,” and has stated that police budgets ought to be set primarily based on proof and what really works to scale back crime.
