Police in Montreal, Longueuil look to change the way they deal with people in crisis

Police in Montreal and Longueuil are hoping a portion of the $100 million for mental health services announced earlier this week by the province will flow to them.

They say they want help to change the way they interact with people with mental illness.

Last week, Montreal police shot a Black man in NDG who the dispatcher said was experiencing mental health problems, renewing concerns about how law enforcement deals with people in crisis. The province's police watchdog is investigating.

"The policemen are trying to help these people," Montreal police Insp. Marie-Claude Dandenault told CBC News.

"We're bringing them to the hospital. A few hours later they're coming out, and they're calling again, and we're kind of in a spiral."

For his part, Longueuil police Chief Fady Dagher estimates 70 per cent of 911 calls made on his territory are connected to mental illness, and he said often it's the same people calling repeatedly.

"We cannot continue doing policing the way we're doing it right now, which is answering 911 calls, sending a police car, and we don't know what's gonna happen," Dagher told CBC in an interview Tuesday.

"When you answer the 911 call, it's already too late," Dagher added.

New approach in Longueuil

Dagher wants to create a new squad of 30 officers who would liaise with people with mental illness and their families.

"I don't want my cops to become social workers or therapists, that's not the point," Dagher said.

"But if my cops are already involved with the family, know the problems of the family, they will be able to address it with the right partners and avoid the 911 call."

Dagher said each officer would be assigned 15 to 20 families to regularly keep tabs on. Officers could refer the families to social workers and support groups. Families would know the names of the officers and their work schedules, and could reach out for help.

Dagher wants $2.8 million, half from the province and half from Ottawa, to set up a five-year pilot project.

"I'm expecting to demonstrate during those five years that my 911 calls are going down dramatically," Dagher said.

He said the hope is that fewer 911 calls would free up more officers, so he could expand his squad eventually to have 150 officers.

Montreal police hope to double special squad

Montreal police already have a small squad made up of six police officers and four social workers who assist patrol officers dealing with mental health interventions.

But that small squad covers the whole island, seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Dandenault said, ideally, the squad's size would be doubled.

"It would permit us to separate the island in two and have one car on one end and one on the other end, so we could get there faster and get to more calls," Dandenault said.

Not clear if police will get money

The province's announcement Monday included $19 million to to create "field teams" to meet with vulnerable clientele for "prevention, detection and early intervention in psychosocial issues."

It's not clear if that would include police.

A spokesperson for the health network that partners with Montreal police on their program, the CIUSSS du Centre-Sud-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, told CBC the province is still working out the details of the program.

In a statement, the Quebec Association of Psychiatric Doctors said field teams should work closely with police.

"They will have to be perfectly aligned with the existing teams, otherwise, we will recreate a new silo on the fringes of the system," the association said.

Dagher said he's been asking the province to fund his pilot program for two years. He said the province never contacted him about the new money, but he hopes some of it could be used for his program.