Mental health issues and information about how police deal with them will be given a greater profile under Orillia OPP’s new interim commander.
During Tuesday’s virtual Orillia Police Services Board meeting, Insp. Brent Robitaille — taking part in his first meeting since being named to the position June 1 — was discussing his goals and objectives for the local detachment.
The goals and objectives report is typical in that it is an update provided to the board at every meeting. However, while discussing the draft goals and objectives for 2020, Robitaille said he wanted it to have a “new look” that delves deeper into mental health calls to which police respond.
Having grown up in Orillia, Robitaille has noticed “this place seems to have a great deal of members that are suffering and who need our services for mental health.”
He wants the report to include details about every time Orillia OPP helps with mental health calls, including suicide, attempted suicide, threat of suicide, and overdoses. Last week alone, police responded to 33 mental health calls where people had threatened suicide.
“That’s one week. Extrapolate that over a year (and) you’re talking a large drain on our resources,” he said.
It’s important for Orillia OPP, the board and the community to know the effects of mental health calls, he added, which is why he wants it to be given more attention in the goals and objectives report.
“I’d like our community to be really focused on us, and not just fluffed with information that’s nice to see, but something that all of us can really take forward and sink our teeth into as actionables,” he said.
Robitaille said the new focus will also include continued training and education for officers with the goal of reducing victimization and the need for apprehension when responding to mental health calls.
Mayor Steve Clarke, chair of the police services board, noted he is a member of the Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital board and, in that role, has come to appreciate that “we need acute care, we need our wonderful Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital at peak efficiency, and health itself, but how do we prevent people from going in the front door of the hospital?”
“In other words, how do we make our community healthier? Some of the comments I just heard you say kind of reflect that thought process or philosophy as well,” he told Robitaille.
Clarke also acknowledged the OPP has “begun to understand the complexity and the need to address mental health issues.”
“There is an enlightenment going on and you have freely reflected that in your comments,” he said.
Clarke welcomed the attention being given to mental health calls, citing experts who have said “mental health issues have been exacerbated by COVID” and that they expect it to continue in the coming months.
The board passed a motion that will see the goals and objectives report updated to include that mental health focus. It will come back for approval at the Aug. 25 meeting.
