Police-Encounters-With-People-In-Crisis

RECOMMENDATION 34: The TPS consider whether to establish a
comprehensive psychological health and safety management system for the
Service.
RECOMMENDATION 35: The TPS provide a mandatory annual wellness visit
with a TPS psychologist for all officers within their first two years of service.
RECOMMENDATION 36: The TPS consider providing less frequent periodic
mandatory wellness visits with a TPS psychologist or other counsellor for all
police officers, or, if it is not immediately possible to provide wellness visits to all
officers, for any officer who works as a first responder, coach officer, or
supervisory officer. The TPS should also encourage all officers to seek counselling
voluntarily.
RECOMMENDATION 37: The TPS promote a greater understanding of the
role and availability of the TPS psychologists, the EFAP and peer support groups
as confidential resources that officers are encouraged to make use of to help them
stay mentally healthy.
RECOMMENDATION 38: The TPS consider whether it would be helpful to
establish an Internal Support Network for people who have experienced a
shooting or other traumatic incident, or more generally to help officers with workrelated
psychological stresses.
RECOMMENDATION 39: The TPS consider creating a new procedure,
substantially modelled after Procedure 08-05 “Substance Abuse,” to address
members’ mental health, and specifically to require officers in supervisory roles
to monitor for mental health concerns of TPS members under their command, in
order to identify means of providing help for mental health issues before a fitness
for duty issue arises.
RECOMMENDATION 40: The TPS provide officers in supervisory roles with
training specific to monitoring other officers’ psychological wellness and guiding
preventive intervention where it is warranted.
CHAPTER 10: USE OF FORCE
Improving the Use of Force Procedure to reflect best practices
RECOMMENDATION 41: The TPS revise its Use of Force Procedure to
supplement the Ontario Use of Force Model and guidelines with best practices
from external bodies such as the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the
United Nations and other police services in order to:
(a)
incorporate approaches to minimizing the use of lethal force
wherever possible;
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