Regina police to add second mental health team, expand hours
The Regina Police Service is expanding a mental health crisis unit in order to operate seven days a week.
A report headed to this week's board of police commissioners meeting details the results of two-person team called Police and Crisis Team, otherwise known as PACT.
The initiative, which involves a partnership between the service and the Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region's Mental Health Service, went into operation at the start of 2016.
The two-person police officer and mental health worker duo respond to situations where someone is experiencing a mental health crisis.
Currently, the team operates Monday to Friday for nine hours a day, and responds to calls referred by Regina police dispatch.
7 days a week
According to the report, the team evaluated 980 cases and assessed 334 people during a crisis intervention.
It goes on to explain the team proved successful in linking those in crisis to appropriate services.
In terms of numbers, 13 per cent of the clients who received an intervention from the team were spared being arrested by police. Fifty-five people were also saved a trip to a hospital emergency room.
Starting in September, the service plans to expand the unit to two mental health teams that will operate 12-hour shifts, allowing them to be on call seven days a week.
Mental health calls take triple the time
The report says the expansion will "help alleviate pressure" facing the front-line police officers and health region when it comes to responding to individuals with mental health crises.
According to numbers provided by police, officers spent an average of 3.1 hours per call when it involved a mental health crisis, compared to 49.2 minutes when there was no mental health crisis.
In 2016, police received a total of 54,398 calls for service and of those there were 1,175 where mental health was an issue.
"RPS members spent 7.5 per cent of their time on 2.2 per cent of the total calls for service where mental health was an issue."
