Mental Health Among Rising Crime Numbers In 2019
Thunder Bay Police release the 2019 numbers when it comes to crimes.
One of the more significant increases came in the category where mental health was a primary factor; 1,929 calls were reported last year as compared to 1,690 during the same time period in 2018.
The data, police report, has only started being tracked since the middle of 2018.
“This is why we stress not only the need for public support, but also funding to continue looking at proactive ways to address some of this call volume” reacts Police Board Chair Georjann Morriseau. “I’m not surprised by the uptake in stats considering this is our reality. We recognize there’s a problem; We’ll stop at nothing to try and address what we can and support something moving forward”.
One initiative that both the board and police hope will be fully implemented by 2021 is the Joint Mobile Crisis Response Team.
“Officers will receive additional training in terms of mental health calls and they’ll have the added advantage of being paired with a crisis worker,” says Police Chief Sylvie Hauth.
The program was first conceived as late as four years ago and, although there was frustration as to how long it took to get to this stage, there’s optimism moving forward.
“I think it helps us to give us a little more leverage, especially looking at the study that was conducted by Lakehead University to assess our current project. It showed the numbers substantiate the need for a plan going forward. It also shows that we’re right in terms of the way we’re conducting the service delivery” notes Hauth.
The program right now operates between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. with calls to eventually make it around the clock for the full implementation of the plan in 2021.
NOTABLE 2019 FACTS AND FIGURES
– 54,464 Calls for Service, a 6% increase from 2018 figures
– 2,031 violent crimes
– 17% increase in crimes against properties from 2018
– 87 incidents involving drug overdoses (21 deaths)
– 17 guns, $631,523 cash and $878,987 street value of drugs picked up by police throughout 2019
