Public safety consultant Terry Coleman is the lead author of a new report by the Mental Health Commission of Canada examining police training for dealing with people with mental illness. Photo: Diana Nethercott/For Postmedia News Despite persistent calls for more training in de-escalation techniques, there are a handful of police academy instructors in Canada who continue to believe that use of force is “inevitable” when dealing with people who appear psychotic or are irrational, according to a new report by the Mental Health Commission of Canada.
The report, set for release on Wednesday at the annual Canadian police chiefs conference, also found that while officers are getting better trained about mental illness, many agencies are failing to include people with mental illness in the development and delivery of that training.
“If one were to draw an analogy with, for example, training in regard to cultural diversity, it would be as if a police academy were providing training in regard to cultural, racial and religious sensitivity without consulting any cultural or ethnic groups,” said the report.
Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill, the newly installed president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said in an interview Tuesday that the “world has changed” and that de-escalation techniques are now a major component of police training across the country.
The association also announced that it had passed a resolution urging police agencies to work with their local mental health partners to adopt “proven and promising” strategies for dealing with people with mental illness.
The need for improved training has come into sharp focus in recent years following high-profile — and sometimes fatal — encounters between police and people with severe mental illness.
Earlier this year, an Ontario coroner’s inquest jury issued 74 recommendations stemming from the deaths of three mentally ill Toronto residents who were fatally shot after approaching police with knives or scissors.
One of the key recommendations: if an emotionally disturbed person carrying a knife fails to respond to police commands to “stop” or “drop the weapon,” train officers to stop shouting these commands and try different methods for defusing the situation.
But in its survey of police training academies, the mental health commission found that there were a few use-of-force instructors in Canada who “suggested that de facto use of physical force was almost inevitable, and even recommended, when dealing with an “irrational’ person.”
“They figure that it’s an unacceptable risk to be wasting time talking to these people because they’ll never understand you anyway,” said the report’s lead author, Terry Coleman, a former police chief in Saskatchewan.
Coleman acknowledged that some situations can deteriorate very quickly, leaving no option but to use force, but he said force should always be the “last resort.”
“None of us say you should never use force, but you should do whatever is possible to avoid using force,” he said.
Coleman declined to identify the instructors or academies in question because he did not want to “burn bridges.”
While most training academies do a fairly good job of covering signs and symptoms of mental illness and use a variety of teaching methods, such as lectures, videos, online resources, role-playing and simulation exercises, most still do not include significant input and participation from people with mental illness or their families, the report found.
“One of the most effective ways in which to change attitudes and stigma in relation to mental illness is through direct contact and exposure to people with mental illnesses,” the report said.
According to the report, the Halifax Regional Police has set the “gold standard” in Canada by developing a comprehensive training program. Beyond basic training about mental illness for new recruits, the force has developed three levels of continuing education aimed at raising awareness of community mental health resources, improving communication with mentally ill people and developing de-escalation strategies.
Other Canadian police programs also received praise in the report:
—The Edmonton Police Service for developing a one-day training session in which officers interact with actors in scenarios designed to mimic encounters with people with mental illness.
—Durham Regional Police in Ontario for developing interactive videos that simulate people suffering from suicidal behavior, delusions and hallucinations.
—The Toronto Police Service for creating a 90-minute class that emphasizes de-escalation and disengagement as “viable options.”
—The Ministry of Justice in British Columbia for creating mandatory crisis intervention and de-escalation training for all officers in the province that combines online training with in-class instruction and role-playing.
Dquan@Postmedia.com
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