For anyone in the justice system in Canada, for cops to lawyers to judges to jail guards, the release of a new report Wednesday stating how police are the first point of contact for the mentally ill when they engage in anti-social behaviour was no news at all.
In fact, the report from the Mental Health Commision of Canada wasn't broad enough. The study only looked at police training and made 16 recommendations, many of which police forces across Canada are already trying to implement in one form or another. While still helpful, it's of limited value. What's really needed is a more complete assessment of how the mentally ill are affecting the entire justice system and how the various arms within that system, inadequately equipped to deal with those individuals, pass them around without working towards long-term solutions.
There is no question that the vast majority of individuals police deal with on a daily basis suffer from substance abuse issues, some form of mental illness or both. While there are numerous outlets to help with addiction, both in the community and in jails, mental health seems to get neglected.
There is a bias across all of society towards individuals that cannot carry their mental illness privately. For those who engage in anti-social behaviour when off their medication, there is little to no patience from the rest of society. Most citizens, fearful for their safety and feeling it's not really their problem to begin with, prefer to call the police instead of engaging directly with the mentally ill when there is an issue.
In a city the size of Prince George, police officers quickly get to know these individuals on a first-name basis, learning what their conditions are, what medications they should be taking and how to defuse most situations they respond to. When the officers arrive to a call and find a regular, they often greet the person by name and immediately ask if they remembered to take their meds. They are not solving crimes, catching bad guys and patrolling neighbourhoods at this point. Instead, they are serving as social workers and counsellors.
If laws are broken and arrests are necessary, the mentally ill enter a system where they can be more closely monitored and receive more regular treatment but imprisonment challenges the mental health of even the most stable of individuals, never mind the new stresses it puts on those already suffering from psychological issues.
Just because people have a mental disorder doesn't mean they don't understand when they've been put in a cage.
Unfortunately, the federal Conservatives greeted the report by saying the provinces need to do more.
Federal Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney agreed that police aren't doctors and shouldn't be expected to do that kind of work but then went on to say that health is a provincial responsibility.
"We'll look to our provincial partners to provide the necessary intervention and assistance for the mentally ill before they encounter the criminal justice system," he said, most unhelpfully.
He might as well have gone on to say that the crime rate would be lower across Canada if the provinces took the mentally ill off the streets and warehoused them away.
This is a typical response from a Conservative government uncomfortable with devoting any resources to a group of people they seem to them to be just "sick in the head." Just look at how it has dismissed soldiers who have returned home from overseas postings with post-traumatic stress disorder.
What Blaney won't admit is that when the mentally ill engage in anti-social behavior, it is both a health and a justice issue. Increased collaboration between the health care system and the justice system at all levels is what's needed, not finger pointing to who should be throwing money at the problem.
The people on the ground know what the issue is and how to make it better but the elected officials are too busy playing politics to listen.
