A police data study out of Uvic's department of psychology suggests integrating officers into Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams directs police interventions towards support and away from criminalization.
ACT teams aim to support clients who are disabled by their mental illness and need services to live in the community. Typically, these teams are made up of healthcare and social support staff, but in Victoria, VicPD has also designated specific officers to join these interdisciplinary teams.
The study found that police interactions were less likely to result in a criminal offense and more likely to result in another kind of intervention when ACT officers were involved. The study also tracked that ACT clients had fewer police interactions related to violence.
Professor Erica Wooden spoke about her team's research at a press conference today, saying police integration seems to support safety for clients, staff and the larger community.
"From our previous interviews, we know that a key reason that this seems to help is that ACT officers get to know the clients and are able to adjust their responses based on what they know about what is the best interest in clients' wellbeing, more than unknown patrol officers can."
She says she doesn't know how these results would differ in other communities, but says these results are holding up in Victoria.
Meanwhile, ACT officer constable Sonny Govus welcomes the reports' validation of this work.
"We care about the community we live in," he said. "We want everyone to know the police are there for you whether you suffer from a mental health illness or something happens to you on the street."
He says he enjoys working with, nurses, doctors, case workers and other staff who each bring different perspectives. He says this study means a lot to validate the work that police are doing to support these clients.
"There is a lot of negative stuff that goes out about police nowadays and it t isn't true. We genuinely care. We go out there and work hard every day," he added. "We work hard behind the scenes every day to make sure people feel cared about, and especially those marginalized people."