Police-Encounters-With-People-In-Crisis

92. Procedure 06-04 directs Divisional Mental Health Liaison Officers to coordinate
any divisional community mental health needs through community service providers;
liaise with mental health professionals in the community and ensure the division’s
officers are aware of services in the community; liaise with the Mental Health
Coordinator, who is the officer in charge of community mobilization with respect to
vulnerable persons; and, finally, ensure that hospitals in the division have a sufficient
supply of forms for transferring care. 81
93. The TPS Mental Health Coordinator is a central resource person who directly
oversees the Service’s mental health portfolio. Under Procedure 06-04, the Mental
Health Coordinator is directed to liaise with all Divisional Mental Health Liaison
Officers, MCIT units, psychiatric facilities, and other external agencies in regard to
issues related to mental health. 82 The Mental Health Coordinator also attends all
regional and provincial Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee meetings
on behalf of the TPS.
94. Both of these roles are intended to serve an external consultation and
coordination function.
5. Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee
95. TPS plays an active role in Toronto’s and Ontario’s Human Services and Justice
Coordinating Committees. These are multidisciplinary committees that address
systemic coordination issues for people who come into contact with the criminal justice
system who have a serious mental illness, developmental disability, acquired brain
injury, drug and alcohol addiction, or fetal alcohol syndrome. These Committees bring
together healthcare service providers and representatives from the criminal justice
system to “find solutions to the problem of the criminalization of people with the
defined unique needs” and “to develop a model of shared responsibility and
accountability in dealing with this group of individuals at points of intersection with the
justice system.” 83 These committees were established in the late 1990s and operate at
the provincial, regional and local levels.
96. Deputy Chief Federico, his executive officer, and Constable Diana Korn-Hassani,
TPS Mental Health Coordinator and MCIT Coordinator, represent the Service at
regional and provincial HSJCC meetings.
6. The Mental Health Sub-Committee and the involvement of the
mental health community
97. A significant development in the interaction between the TPS and members of
the community of people who have mental health issues is through the Mental Health
Sub-Committee of the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB). Through membership on
the Sub-Committee, people with lived experience of mental illness have become
81
TPS, “Procedure 06-04”, supra note 24 at 8.
82
Id. at 9.
83
Provincial Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee, “Goal and Objectives of the Provincial HSJCC”, online: HSJCC
.
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