Winnipeg needs to replace police with community-led crisis response teams, groups say

Imagine a Winnipeg where someone suffering a mental health crisis is met with a simple "How can I help?" by a dedicated crisis worker, instead of police officers outfitted with a Taser and a gun.

It's a scenario local organizations in Winnipeg are calling for after several people died in recent months following encounters with Winnipeg police.

The Police Accountability Coalition (PAC) says there needs to be an overhaul of the current policing system and overall response to mental health and well-being calls.

"[Without it] we're going to keep going down this very dangerous, dangerous road," said Kate Kehler, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg which is a member of PAC.

Currently, Winnipeguses the response to citizens in crisis (ARCC)program,which pairsplainclothes police officers with mental health workers when responding tonon-violent andnon-emergent crisis situations.

However, ARCC only provides secondary responses once a situation is deemed safe. Uniformed police officers are typicallythe first responders, particularly when calls involve a weapon.

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Several recent deaths of people during interactions with Winnipeg police are prompting some in the city to call for an overhaul of the system. The Police Accountability Coalition wants community-led crisis response team to take the lead in crisis response, similar to what's happening in some American jurisdictions.

PAC wants to see a model centred on a civilian-led, community-based crisis response instead of always using police to respond first.

The calls for change come after at least six cases since October 2023 where people died followingencounters with Winnipeg police.

The latest was last month, when59-year-old Bradley Singerwas shot deadby Winnipeg police after officers attempted to take him to hospital for a non-voluntary examinationunder the province's Mental Health Act.

"A police presence is not absolutely necessary, and it can actually do more harm than good," Kehler said. "Our objective is for a community-led response to ensure people in medical crisis receive a medical response first."

There are at least 107 such crisis teams currentlyin Canada and the U.S., according to PAC. Kehlersays Winnipeg needs to be moving to a similar model.

Community outreach groups in the United States say it's not only possible to respond without police, it's an initiative that is saving lives.

Civilian-led crisis response teams can work

Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets(CAHOOTS)has served its community in Eugene, Ore., since 1989. It's designed to be an alternative to the police.

Through CAHOOTS, medical professional and crisis worker teams provide first aid in case of urgent medical need or psychological crisis. They assess, provide information, referrals, advocate for people and even bring them to another non-profit where they can get additional support.

They show up, unarmed andwithout police, even to mental health calls that involve potential weapons or violence.

CAHOOTS provides one model of working with but also independently of police. However, they do not have the ability to arrest people or force them to do anything.

"The power dynamic is we don't have the upper hand," saidChelsea Swift, a crisis intervention worker. "If anything we are trying to reverse it. We are trying to serve the people and help them meet their goals. We never come in with an agenda."

The free service in Eugene and neighbouring Springfield has an annual budget of $2.1million, or approximately twoper cent of thepolice's budget,but it does about 20 per cent of the work.

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CAHOOTS handles 85% of well-being calls

CAHOOTS teams are dispatched by the local police department's non-emergency line, and are sometimes sent out with police who are kept out of sight.

Team members carry police radios, listen to dispatch calls and can ask torespond.

"There's a level of accountability there, honestly, that exists with CAHOOTS listening to the police traffic and being aware of what they're doing in our community, and we at any point can at least ask to join those calls, too," Swift said.

They are called to deal with crises 24,000 times a year, with just a few thousand being co-responses with police from the start.

When CAHOOTS was the sole first responder, police only needed to be called 300 times, according to Swift, andonly six times officers were asked to come "lights and sirens."

Swift sayspolice are called in mainlybecause someone has refused to leave a business, is trespassing oron a roadand policeare needed to shut down traffic. It is rarely due to a safety concern of a team member.

"I cannot stress this enough:No CAHOOTS worker since 1989 has ever been seriously injured on a CAHOOTS call," she said.

Thedeep history between the police department and its agencies also involves cross-training.

Local police give safety training to CAHOOTS team members, who in turn hold regular presentations and mandated training sessions for officers on crisis intervention.

"All of this is what keeps us safe and also knowing when to disengage," she said.

Staff at CAHOOTS travel across the country showing people their model, and so far it's been picked up in Oakland, Calif.; New York City and Denver, Colo.

Workers with lived experience make difference

In Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a similar crisis response organization,People USA, only hires workers with lived experience in addictions and/or mental health. Its CEO believesother cities should, too.

"I really want to move the needle in that direction," Steve Miccio said.

People USA started as an advocacy group but quickly evolved into a service organization after recognizing thelack of services.

Too many communities are reliant on police to de-escalate or deal with an incident when officers are not the best equipped to handle, Miccio says.

"Why are we OK with that? Why isn't our behavioural health system meeting these people earlier and serving them so that we don't get to the level where we need police intervention?" he said.

Miccio says People USA currently has mobile response teams teaming with 45 police departments.

There is aninherent trust that comes with crisis response workers that Miccio says is lost when an armed, uniformed police officer shows up.

"Somebody wearing a gun and a uniform it's a little scary for anybody, and so we try to remove that piece of trauma for people so that we can just engage ourselves with people in community," Miccio said.

Similar to CAHOOTS, their team members are unarmed but have police training.

"We get official training by police on safety on where to stand, how to not block yourself in you know, those kinds of physical safety issues. We don't do any intervention, physical intervention of any kind with people," he said.

They have police staged slightly out of range of the incident to allow their workers to be at the forefront, but with the option of bringing officers in if needed.

"We're about 80 per cent successful in just settling it and making sure that we don't need that engagement by the officer," Miccio said.

However, he says, the majority of the time, people just need someone to talk with.

Miccio's staff also provides local law enforcement with 40 hours of crisis intervention training centred on empathy and compassion along with role-playing.

"By the end of that training [they] have a better tool on their tool belt instead of the Taser or the gun or the handcuffs," he said.

Miccio envisions a world where there are no longer fatal outcomes when help is called for those suffering a mental health or addictions crisis.

"We're not there yet," he said, "and there's a lot of work to do."

If you're experiencing suicidal thoughts or having a mental health crisis, there is help available. Contact the Manitoba Suicide Prevention and Support Line toll-free at 1-877-435-7170 (1-877-HELP170) or the Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868. You can also text CONNECT to 686868 and get immediate support from a crisis responder through the Crisis Text Line, powered by Kids Help Phone.