A Case for a Civilian Led Community Based Crisis Response Objectives:

Non-police led, community-based crisis response models are gaining traction in Canada and the US, with around 107 programs operating as of August 1, 2023.[2] These models show that in the vast majority of mental health crisis calls there is no safety risk to the civilian crisis team, and instead present an opportunity to connect the individual in crisis with client-centered and trauma-informed res. [...] We demonstrated that there is growing concern regarding the cost and effectiveness of our long-standing practice of defaulting to the WPS to address societal failures.[31] The report cites a 2020 Angus Reid poll finding that 26% of Winnipeggers had an unfavourable view of the service, the highest of any major prairie city.[31] A full 36% supported a reduction to the police budget.[31] A 2020 IPSOS. [...] The upper level of resistance is defined as "Aggravated Active Aggression", which "accounted for 20.64% of the overall aggression".[3.8] WPS attribute these encounters to the increase in the use of methamphetamine by individuals which for the WPS, justifies the use of force since "individuals under the influence of methamphetamine often have a high tolerance to pain and are far less responsive to. [...] However, "EXD is not a currently recognized medical or psychiatric diagnosis according to either the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IVTR) of the American Psychiatric Association or the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) of the World Health Organization".[4.10] It is not recognized in the last version of DSM-V as a diagnosis or as a condition for further st. [...] The first is the officers’ lack of knowledge to recognize mental health crises-related behaviours and expected outcomes, and the second is the trauma these encounters can have on the police officers.