Police-Encounters-With-People-In-Crisis

14. The assess/plan/act core is intended to be dynamic and continuous in response
to a situation. The Model recognizes that “behaviour (and response option) can change
from co-operative to assaultive (or from communication to lethal force) in a split second
without passing through any other behaviour or force options.” 16
15. When assessing a situation, an officer is to consider what he or she perceives to
be the subject’s abilities, including physical strength, proximity to weapons,
intoxication, and emotional state. The assessment phase also requires a consideration of
whether the seriousness of the situation requires the officer to act immediately or
whether the officer can create more time in the situation and more distance between the
subject and others.
16. With respect to assessing the safety of the situation, the guidelines that
accompany the Ontario Use of Force Model list several signs that indicate a potential
attack by a person on an officer. Several stakeholders submitted to the Review that this
list of potentially dangerous behaviour includes virtually all conduct other than
immediate compliance with police commands, and may lead an officer to perceive a
threat when a person is exhibiting non-violent symptoms of a mental illness or a crisis.
17. The potential attack signs listed in the Model include, among other things, the
following types of behaviour that may be symptomatic of an emotional or mental crisis:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
(i)
ignoring the officer;
repetitious questioning;
aggressive verbalization;
emotional venting;
refusing to comply with a lawful request from an officer;
ceasing all movement;
invasion of personal space of the officer;
adopting an aggressive stance; and
hiding.
18. The guidelines describe the subject’s behaviour as central to the officer's
continuous assess/plan/act process. Resistant behaviour may be passive or active, and
affects the officer’s response to the person. Resistance is described as refusal to
cooperate with direction, either verbally or by “consciously contrived” physical
inactivity. Active resistance may include pulling, walking or running away from, as well
as walking toward an officer.
16
Id., Appendix B at 2.
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