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By Chantal Wagner

MHPS respond to just over 1,200 mental health related calls in 2020

Jan 26, 2021 | 2:41 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Over the past year, Medicine Hat Police attended just over 1,200 mental health related calls for service.

That’s about the same number of mental health calls as in 2019, but it’s up from 2018.

Insp. Brent Secondiak says it’s really a tragedy, that’s nearly four calls a day.

He adds it’s a sad state of affairs, and hopefully, with the proper supports in place, police can minimize mental health calls even more.

“We’re constantly reviewing our programming in constitution with Alberta Health Services and Canadian Mental Health Association. They are some of our primary stakeholders, but I think it’s really important for us to look at our calls, what are we going to, why are we going to some of these calls, and is there a better agency or someone more appropriate to go to a lot of these mental health calls for service.”

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Secondiak adds all of their members are trained in de-escalation training. Members are also trained for policing crisis events.

“So that’s really encouraging I think moving forward. But I still think there’s more we can do and again it’s working with experts in the field like Alberta Health Services on our response.”

Secondiak says over the next month, police will be doing a deep analysis on the types of mental health calls they attend and when those calls occurred.