Mentally Ill Persons and the VPD

It has been known for some considerable length of time that police departments, in Canada and elsewhere, have been carrying a heavy load when responding to individuals within their communities who suffer from various forms of mental illness. It is not uncommon for so many of the excessive use of force incidents to result from a police officer's attempt to deal with someone who is uncontrollable, dissociative, and exhibiting signs of severe mental illness. Police personnel at the front-line rarely, if ever, have the training, knowledge, skills or mindset required for dealing with this population.

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has recently released a report that deals with the enormous magnitude of this issue:

VPD costs for dealing with Mentally Ill

Accordingly, the VPD's latest report: Policing Vancouver's Mentally Ill: The Disturbing Truth: Beyond Lost In Transition makes for important reading that all Canadian police services will wish to study and likely take on board as an echo of their own challenges with this distinctively difficult and deserving population of citizen.

VPD Report on Policing the Mentally Ill

An ongoing operational, strategic and societal issue for resolution.