New plans are in the works that are designed to take the pressure off Montreal police officers.
Montreal’s senior police brass and city officials want a new unit for non-crime-related emergency calls.
The city’s executive committee member responsible for public security Alain Vallaincourt was responding to questions from the public during a presentation of the police service’s 2022 activities report at Montreal city hall Tuesday when Alia Hazineh, a member of the public asked, “What is your plan to ensure that certain 911 calls are diverted to civilian squads?”
Vaillancourt replied that the city is working at launching a pilot project in which 911 calls that are not crime related are diverted.
“Calls that are non-violent and non-crime-related, that are purely mental health, will go to another unit that is not police related,” he explained.
He said a lot of work is still needed before the program is launched, though.
“One is, we need to have someone who’s going to respond to the calls, available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
It’s the police who are now filling that void.
People have long questioned the wisdom of having police respond to non-criminal 911 calls or be placed in situations that might require a non-police approach, like mental health crises or homelessness.
Montreal police chief Fady Dagher said Tuesday that more and more police services are facing the same challenge, and pointed to the London Metropolitan Police in the United Kingdom, who earlier this year said that they would no longer respond to mental health emergency calls.
“Cops cannot answer those calls anymore,” Dagher quoted that force as saying. “We don’t have the right tools to do it.”
The same question was top of mind for some members of the public at Montreal city hall Tuesday.
One question sent in via email read, “Please reallocate a percentage of the police budget to a non-police alternative, and please replace police in schools with social workers.”
According to the police’s 2022 report, 70 per cent of the 911 calls had nothing to do with criminality.
Neither Vaillancourt nor Dagher gave many details about the new team being formed but said it would be made up of civilians who have social work expertise and would get police support when needed.
According to Vaillancourt the current four-member mixed police/civilian team,L’Équipe métro d’intervention et de concertation (EMIC), which specializes in helping vulnerable people in the Metro system and includes a social worker, could eventually take some of those calls. They operate in just four boroughs now.
“The plan is to put it city-wide as rapidly as we can,” Vaillancourt noted.
Some say it’s overdue but wonder if adequate resources will be invested to allow the team to succeed.
“Fund it out of the police budget,” insisted Ted Rutland, a professor at Concordia University who was at Tuesday’s meeting. “Transfer money from the police to this civilian squad.”
He and other civilians at Tuesday’s event are eager to hear more from the city about this plan.
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