Police-Encounters-With-People-In-Crisis

ecruits with more exposure to, and feedback on, techniques for
resolving such situations; and
(i)
Culture: laying the foundation for the culture the TPS expects its
officers to promote and embody, and preparing recruits to resist the
aspects of the existing culture that do not further TPS goals and
values with respect to interactions with people in crisis.
RECOMMENDATION 16: The TPS consider whether officers would benefit
from additional tools to assist them in responding to crisis calls, such as a quickreference
checklist for dealing with people in crisis that reminds officers to
consider: whether the person is demonstrating signs of fear versus intentional
aggression; whether medical, background and family contact information is
available; whether alternative communication techniques are available when
initial attempts at de-escalation are unsuccessful; whether containment of the
person and the scene is a viable option; and whether discretion should be used in
determining whether to apprehend, arrest, divert or release the person in crisis.
RECOMMENDATION 17: The TPS consider whether the 20-week recruit
training period should be extended to allow sufficient time to teach all topics and
skills required for the critically important work of a police officer.
In-service training
RECOMMENDATION 18: The TPS consider placing more emphasis, within
the existing time allocated to in-service training if necessary, on the areas
identified in Recommendation 15.
RECOMMENDATION 19: The TPS consider requiring officers to re-qualify
annually or otherwise in the areas of crisis communication and negotiation, deescalation,
and containment measures.
RECOMMENDATION 20: The TPS consider whether to tailor in-service
mental health training to the needs and experience levels of different audiences,
such as by offering separate curricula for officers assigned to specialty units or
divisions with high volumes of crisis calls.
Decentralized training
RECOMMENDATION 21: The TPS consider how decentralized training can be
expanded and improved to focus on such issues as:
(a)
Platoon training: increasing opportunities for officers to engage in
traditional and online mental health programming within their
platoons;
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