London Police chief John Pare wants to hire a full-time psychologist and support staff to address mental health needs of uniform and civilian police service members.
Mental health was a big part of the discussion at Thursday afternoon’s police service board meeting, after a motion to improve the mental health care for both police and the community was put forward by board member Dr. Javeed Sukhera.
“Our front line officers are being exposed to increasing demands of complex mental health problems that are clinically challenging crises,” Sukhera said.
“These demands have not been commensurate with increased resources.”
Sukhera’s motion suggested exploring ways to support police service member’s mental health, advocating for improved training to handle mental health calls, and collaborating with local mental health agencies.
It received support, as did a motion from the chief to add $300,000 to the police’s budget request to expand its Safe Guard Program.
The program is “just in our high-risk units right now,” Pare said.
Members of those units meet with a psychologist on an “as-needed” basis, but Pare emphasized the importance of hiring a psychologist full time and expanding the Safe Guard Program to benefit all members of the force.
“It’s not just our high-risk units, it’s across our organization where people are impacted by the things that they have to see on a daily basis.”
Late last month, the OPP announced an internal review of its mental health strategy after three of its members died by suicide.
“This summer has not been good,” acknowledged Pare.
The London Police Service has other mental health resources, he added, including the Road to Mental Readiness program, a peer support group, and a critical incident stress management team.
He also addressed the issue of mental health in the community, drawing on previous data that estimated $5 million to $7 million of the police budget was used in 2000 to respond to mental health calls. The figure grew to $12.5 million in 2011, and was expected to hit $16 million by 2015.
“It’s something we continue to struggle with,” he said.
“This cannot be resolved just from an enforcement or from a police perspective.”