Two psyciatric nurses are now located at RCMP Headquarters in Regina and are available to officers answering calls in all RCMP jurisdictions except where Police and Crisis Teams are in operation.

RCMP Sergeant Burton Jones says the addition of two psychiatric nurses to its Operational Communication Centre is not in response to calls to defund police because it has actually been in the works for two and a half years.

Sgt. Jones explains that if an RCMP officer is dispatched to a call and it is someone in a mental health crisis, they call the nurse, explain the call they are going to and ask for advice on how to proceed, “Once they have, you know, the situation safe, the scene is safe, then they basically get on the phone to the psychiatric nurse and give the phone to the client and then the nurse talks directly to the person that’s in crisis.”

Sgt Jones says in the first four days of the pilot program they had 24 calls involving a mental health situation and three of the individuals declined talking to the nurse, one wasn’t in a state to speak to the nurse, a couple didn’t meet the threshold of a mental health situation but 18 others did choose to speak with the nurse and 13 of those individuals did not have to be apprehended and taken to hospital.

He says the goal is to expand to four psychiatric nurses working noon till midnight Monday through Thursday and then offering 24 hour service Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The program kicked off May 31st.

Sgt Jones says this pilot program fills a significant void supplanting the old way of dealing with mental health calls which involved making an arrest under the Mental Health Services Act and then going to the Emergency room where the officer would have to stay, anywhere from two to eight hours at times, until the patient is triaged.