Kingston Police have teamed up with Addiction and Mental Health Services for mental health calls.
Much of the calls police receive usually involves some form of mental health crisis.
That is why Kingston Police teamed up with Addiction and Mental Health Services for their mobile crisis rapid response team.
A police officer is paired with a support workers to go to these calls so that these incidents don't escalate to confrontations.
Tracy Rouleau, a crisis support worker at AMHS, says her job involves assisting police with de-escalation efforts and assess the needs of the individual.
Detective Brian McMillian with Kingston Police's vulnerable sector and criminal investigations units says around 80 percent of the calls police receive involve an individual with mental health issues.
He says by partnering with AMHS, these people can get the help without police involvement.
The mobile crisis rapid response team was created in October 2019.
Robin Witzke, Clinical Manager of Crisis Services at AMHS, says there was a lot of work in order get the team up and running.
More about the mobile crisis rapid response team can be found on the Kingston Police website.
Story by Ken Hashizume
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