In 2012, the SPVM added social workers to a handful of its police officers to better approach citizens suffering from mental disorders. Ten years and 14,000 interventions later, program managers paint an encouraging picture of the activities of the Psychosocial Emergency Support Team (ESUP). The whole police culture in Montreal is beginning to change.
The deaths of men in crisis in recent years are a reminder: the task is colossal.
“It’s unfortunate”, but today 911 remains one of the first entry points into the health system for people with mental disorders, indicates to the To have to one of the heads of ESUP, Jason Champagne. “When someone is talking alone or doesn’t look well, what do the neighbors do? They call the police. »
Only two policeman-intervener duos supervise the entire island of Montreal per shift, although the workforce doubled last year.
A peaceful outcome
These tandems are only dispatched to the scene if police officers already on the scene call them for reinforcement. “It’s not done to decriminalize, explains Jason Champagne. The police arrive on the scene, face someone who is not well, but who is not committing a crime. »
It is in these cases that ESUP comes into play, to find a peaceful solution to the problem.
Each member of the duo has access to a different database — one on criminal history, the other on medical history. The confidentiality of these information banks is up to their respective specialist, “unless the danger is serious or imminent, as in a suicidal or homicidal case”, specifies Mr. Champagne.
Marriage of convenience
A “clash” of cultures accompanied the first years of this marriage of convenience between police and workers. “I was a red square at university,” one of the psychoeducators in the squad drops a little jokingly. Nevertheless, “before, a suicidal person took the direction of the hospital almost systematically. Now we realize that it is a call for help, ”explains police officer Giovanna Di Stefano. Conversely, healthcare workers have learned to act with the sense of urgency of law enforcement.
Today, the current passes between these interveners and these police officers. “There is a spontaneous transfer of knowledge, by example,” notes the assistant director of the SPVM’s Corporate Services Department, Vincent Richer.
This branch of the SPVM is beginning to be known and recognized in neighborhood police stations. At times, the ESUP doesn’t even have to move. “Sometimes we coach [coaching]. The police no longer call us to ask us to come, but just to ask us for advice, ”says Éric Lefebvre, criminologist and member of the squad. Some agents themselves take the initiative to redirect citizens to another health center.
Recruits are also increasingly asking for advice, notes Constable Di Stefano. “Not just because they [les nouveaux policiers] are new. They are more open to it. »
Another sign that the police culture is changing, all SPVM constables now receive de-escalation training, and some 300 of them have already received advanced training in this area.
And the treatment of mental health by the police is growing in other police forces, such as Sherbrooke and Gatineau. The latest interministerial report on mental health, published in early 2022, urges Quebec to expand these “mixed intervention practices” to the entire territory.