Mental illness training for police called for

More police on P.E.I. should be getting training in how deal with people with mental illness, says the Canadian Mental Health Association.

The association developed a course in Newfoundland called Changing Minds that it would like to see more Island police officers take. The course includes vignettes from 20 people with mental illness.

"What they talk about it is how their experiences could have been different if the people they were dealing with had some education and training and understanding of mental illness," said executive director Reid Burke.

The two-day program has been offered on the Island for the last three years. A few police officers have taken it, and Burke said more should.

"That training has them being able to do a little bit of analysis and ask the right question," said Burke.

"How you intervene in a situation can be hugely impacted by what you know."

RCMP Sgt. Andrew Blackadar said police only have so much time for training.

"We do like to give our officers as much training as possible to deal with every situation," said Blackadar.

"At the same time I think people have to recognize and realize that police officers have to do police work sometimes and we can't always be in the classroom training.

RCMP deal with people who have mental illnesses on a weekly basis, said Blackadar, and he said there is a special unit that has more specific training for dealing with those situations. All officers receive some general training in the area.

Burke would like to see the Changing Minds course become mandatory for all officers.