B.C. invests $2M in app to help police deal with crisis response
Posted March 6, 2024 11:01 am.
Last Updated March 6, 2024 9:52 pm.
Police forces across B.C. will have another tool in their belt come Thursday, as the province begins to roll out a program that it says will help officers deal with those facing mental-health or substance-use crises.
Public Safety Minister and Solicitor General Mike Farnworth explained Wednesday that the Port Moody Police Department will begin using HealthIM, a digital public safety program, on March 7, before the program is rolled out to other jurisdictions over the next two years.
Listen to CityNews 1130 LIVE now!“Police officers in our province have seen first-hand the impacts and challenges when responding to mental-health or substance-use crisis-related calls,” said Farnworth. “We are helping officers to support people in crisis with HealthIM, a risk-screening tool that will help them to de-escalate and better navigate the complexities of mental-health emergencies.”
The program, which the province is investing $2 million into, was developed by both the Ontario government and the National Research Council Canada. HealthIM is already actively used in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, the province explains.
The B.C. government shares that the program is used to hand off information from and to policing and health-care systems, and has resulted in an almost 50 per cent reduction in police apprehension. The province says the program has also reduced hospital wait times by 39 per cent, and has increased hospital admission rates by 37 per cent in the jurisdictions in which it’s used.
B.C. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, Jennifer Whiteside says one in five interactions with police in B.C. involve an individual who is in “mental health distress.”
HealthIM gives officers available information about a person in crisis before they make contact. It also helps officers assess the person through a questionnaire and sends information to healthcare providers, so they’re prepared if the person is brought to a healthcare facility.
Farnworth explains, however, that the initiative is not designed to replace already-existing programs such as PACT or CAR but used in conjunction with and by communities that don’t have those programs just yet.
“The system will guide the responding officer through a series of questions to help them understand the behavior of the person who is in distress. It will provide valuable insights into how to support individuals with prior police interactions as it develops a risk of harm analysis over time,” Farnworth explained.
“It will streamline police officers’ assessment of the situation that they are facing. It will enhance the quality of the information collected during crisis and it will improve communications with emergency rooms and acute health care facilities.”
He says when people in distress reach out for help, it’s important their needs are met with “the right steps to make sure they’re safe and connected to the care that they need.”
“Every person in every community wants and deserves to feel safe. This evidence-based program is another tool in our toolbox to pave the way for better crisis support in our province,” he continued.
The province says the software also sees more people taken into hospital instead of custody.
Delta Police Acting Insp. James Sandberg says his force has been using the technology since 2019, and provides his officers with a “variety of benefits.”
“The platform provides an ability to input trigger information and de-escalation advice, so that when our officers deal with a person in a repeat fashion in the future, that de-escalation advice and trigger advice is first and foremost present,” he explained. “On top of that, what we have found is as our officers become more familiar with the platform, their ability to assess people has standardized, it’s increased, and it’s gotten better.”
“We’re making better decisions. And what that means is, our overall rate of apprehension fluctuates, but essentially has dropped by about 20 per cent,” Sandberg added.
Farnworth says the plan is to “roll it out through this year, and have it completed across B.C. by the end of next year.”
With files from Monika Gul.
