Police-Encounters-With-People-In-Crisis

Chapter 11. MCIT and Other Models of Crisis Intervention
1. Toronto’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams (MCIT) are a cornerstone of the
Toronto Police Service’s response to people in crisis. These specialized units pair a
police officer, who has received additional training regarding mental illness and dealing
with people in crisis, with a mental health nurse in a marked TPS vehicle. Together the
officer and nurse provide a specialized second response to TPS calls for service involving
a person in crisis.
2. Toronto’s MCIT program is one of a wide range of specialized crisis intervention
models used throughout Canada and the United States, each of which has its own
advantages and limitations.
3. In this chapter, I discuss the importance of providing a specialized response to
calls involving people in crisis, and review the effectiveness of the MCIT model.
Currently, there are relatively few MCIT units spread across the entire City of Toronto.
This permits the TPS to provide a specialized response to only a minority of such calls.
The nature of the MCIT as a second response rather than a first responder to crisis calls
is also a factor that merits further consideration. I also discuss other crisis intervention
models that the TPS could adopt, in tandem with the MCIT program, to complement the
Service’s response capabilities to best address the needs of people in crisis. I also discuss
certain suggested improvements to the MCIT program.
I. The Current Situation
A. Toronto’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Teams
1. Origins of Toronto’s MCIT
4. The TPS established its first MCIT in 2000 in response to a recommendation
from the 1994 Coroner’s Inquest into the death of Lester Donaldson. The inquest jury
recommended that the “Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board support the
development of a special response unit to respond to the mentally ill.” 1
5. The MCIT program began as a partnership between St. Michael’s Hospital and
the TPS, deploying a mental health nurse in tandem with a trained officer to respond to
calls involving people in crisis, first in 51 Division, and subsequently expanded to 52
Division also, covering downtown Toronto. The MCIT program expanded over time. By
the end of 2014, the MCIT will provide a degree of coverage to all 17 TPS Divisions,
involving six partner hospitals.
6. The conceptual origins of Toronto’s MCIT are found in the “Memphis Model” of
Crisis Intervention Teams (CITs), first developed in 1988 in Memphis, Tennessee, and
described in more detail below. The Memphis Model involves specially trained police
1
Centre for Research on Inner City Health, Toronto Mobile Crisis Intervention Team (MCIT) Program Implementation
Evaluation Final Report (Toronto: St. Michael’s Hospital, 2014) at 2 [CRICH, MCIT Implementation]; Toronto Police Service,
Coroner’s Inquests Involving Emotionally Disturbed Persons (EDPs) and the Toronto Police Service, “Subsequent jury
recommendations and responses” (Toronto: Toronto Police Service, 2010) at 1.
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