Police-Encounters-With-People-In-Crisis

1. Vancouver’s Assertive Community Treatment and Car 87
48. Vancouver uses a combination of two crisis response programs: The ACT teams,
based out of the healthcare system, provide recovery-oriented mental health services to
clients with serious mental illness and possible addictions issues. At the same time, the
Car 87 program, which is similar to Toronto’s MCIT, focuses more on assisting people in
crisis. Though their clients are in some cases the same, the two programs have different
capabilities and serve different roles.
49. In 2012, the VPD joined Vancouver’s ACT program. 30 An ACT team is comprised
of various service providers including psychiatrists, nurses, addiction counsellors, and
now the police. Officers are included on these teams in recognition of the significant role
police play in the day-to-day care of people in crisis. 31 Police, while not mental health
experts, do observe changes in individuals’ baseline state and are often the first point of
contact for people in crisis. ACT teams focus on longer-term, recovery-oriented mental
health services for people who, as a result of the limitations of traditional mental health
services, may have gone without appropriate treatment for an extended period of time. 32
The ACT program is less focused on responding to immediate crises.
50. The inclusion of a police officer on ACT teams allows the police and healthcare
system to share information without breaching patient confidentiality. In 2013, the VPD
and relevant health authorities came to an agreement that the police and criminal
justice system are part of the continuum of care and share mutual clients who suffer
from severe and persistent mental illness and substance abuse disorders. All partners in
the ACT program agreed that the police should be considered part of the care team,
regardless of whether the person in crisis is being treated by an ACT team. This enables
officers who observe behavioural changes in individuals over the course of their duties
to discuss treatment with health care practitioners through the lines of communication
established by the ACT. 33
51. Currently there are three ACT teams in Vancouver. A recent analysis of 32 ACT
clients reveals a 50% reduction in negative police contacts as compared to the prior year,
and a 70% reduction in non-urgent emergency department visits. 34
52. In addition to the ACT program, VPD and Vancouver Coastal Health have, since
1984, operated the Car 87 program, which enables police officers who encounter a
person in crisis to call for the deployment of an officer and a nurse in the same manner
30
As discussed in Chapter 4 (The Mental Health System and the Toronto Police Service), Toronto has 13 ACT teams, similar to
Vancouver’s, however TPS does not directly participate in Toronto’s ACT programs. See Vancouver Police Department,
Vancouver’s Mental Health Crisis: An Update Report (Vancouver, Vancouver Police Department, 2013) at 9 [VPD, Report].
31
Ibid.
32
Provincial Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee, Police & Mental Health: A Critical Review of Joint
Police/Mental Health Collaborations in Ontario (January 2011) at 45.
33
VPD, Report, supra note 30 at 10-11.
34
Id. at 10.
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