Police-Encounters-With-People-In-Crisis

2. Employee and Family Assistance Program
27. All TPS members have access to the TPS Employee and Family Assistance
Program (EFAP), provided through contract with an external provider.
28. The EFAP supports employees and their immediate family members in assessing
and resolving work, health, and other wellness issues of all types, including providing
counselling. 13 As is the case with voluntary wellness visits to the TPS in-house
psychologists, members must specifically seek out this resource.
3. Response to traumatic incidents
29. This Report addresses the debriefing of incidents in two contexts: as part of a
cycle of continuous learning from individual situations, and as a wellness resource in the
aftermath of traumatic incidents. The former type of debrief involves a discussion of the
events that occurred in order to improve future practices, as discussed in Chapter 8
(Supervision). The latter type of debrief, discussed in this chapter, is concerned with
helping officers address stresses arising from traumatic incidents.
30. Members of TPS who are involved in traumatic critical incidents take part in
several stages of debriefing in addition to being directed to other treatment, if the case
requires it. A traumatic critical incident is considered to be any incident during which a
member of the Service experiences, witnesses or is confronted with serious injury, death
or mass casualties; any incident in which the member’s life has been imperilled or
threatened; or any other situation which is recognized at the time to have the potential
to significantly interfere with a member’s ability to function professionally or
personally. 14
31. TPS Procedure 08-04 “Members Involved in a Traumatic Critical Incident,” sets
out the procedures, resources and obligations of different members of the Service in
response to the wellness needs that may arise from a critical incident. 15
32. The Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) is a team of peer support volunteers.
These members are specially trained by and coordinated through the Service to respond
to incidents where a Service member experiences physical and psychological symptoms
related to his or her involvement in a traumatic incident, such as traffic collisions or an
incident involving sudden death. 16
33. Initially, members who have experienced a critical incident participate in a
“defusing session,” which is an immediate informal meeting attended by an individual
13
Shepell fgi, “Employee and Family Assistance Programs” (2014), online: Shepell fgi .
14
Toronto Police Service, Procedure 08-04 “Members Involved in a Traumatic Critical Incident” (Toronto: Toronto Police Service,
2013) at Appendix “A”: Critical Incident Stress Handout. [TPS, “Procedure 08-04”].
15
Ibid.
16
Id. at 2. In Clearwater, Florida, spouses of officers and their families are invited to take part in debriefing sessions because the
Clearwater Police Department acknowledges that officers often take stress from such incidents home with them. See Clearwater
Police Department, Number 192 “Line of Duty Death – Critical Incident Stress Debriefing” (Clearwater, FL: Clearwater Police
Department, 2001) at ss. 192.40.
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