By Jim Bronskill, The Associated Press
OTTAWA (CP) -- An incident in which RCMP members pepper-sprayed a schizophrenic man 25 times highlights the need to provide special training to all Mounties on dealing with the mentally ill, says the watchdog over the national police force.
In its final report on the case, the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP expresses disappointment with top Mountie Giuliano Zaccardelli’s rejection of a call for refresher instruction on how to intervene in a mental health crisis.
Zaccardelli insists current training methods are sufficient.
The disagreement stems from a violent October 2000 confrontation between three RCMP officers and a 26-year-old man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
For privacy reasons, the names of the young man and the RCMP officers, as well as details about where the incident took place, have been withheld.
Three Mounties, who were aware of the man’s condition, showed up at his home with an arrest order one afternoon, intending to coax him outside. He refused to co-operate and began barricading the front door.
After giving warning, the Mounties tore off the back screen door, and the man lunged at them with a two-metre birch stick sharpened at one end.
At another point during the melee, the man began swinging a baseball bat.
Police pepper-sprayed him 25 times in 40 minutes. The confrontation ended when the man’s mother arrived and persuaded him to surrender.
She subsequently took her son’s case to the commission, an independent federal agency that investigates complaints about the RCMP.
Commission chairwoman Shirley Heafey concluded the corporal and first two constables on the scene used “excessive force” against the man, making the situation more dangerous than it should have been. But she did not entirely fault these members “because they were not trained” in dealing with a mental health emergency.
In her initial report last October, Heafey recommended “state-of-the-art training” on mental-health crisis intervention for all officers on patrol, as well as a national policy on apprehending people during such incidents.
Heafey notes that Health Canada estimates 20 per cent of Canadians will experience mental illness during their lifetime. The remaining 20 per cent are likely to be affected by such an illness in a family member, friend or colleague.
When mental health crises occur, police officers are often the first called to assist.
In a February response to the watchdog, Zaccardelli, the RCMP commissioner, agreed the officers who confronted the schizophrenic man used inappropriate force.
But he rejected the idea of force-wide training, noting that since 1995 all cadets have received extensive instruction on dealing with the mentally ill. In addition, all force members have been trained on analysing and responding to a range of situations in the field.
Ultimately, it is up to force supervisors, before sending officers out on assignments, to ensure they have the necessary “skills, knowledge and abilities” for the job, Zaccardelli added.
In her recently issued final report, Heafey said she was “disappointed that the commissioner has not seized on this opportunity” to ensure all members receive the training she advocates.
“With respect, the supervisors themselves do not have the requisite training on how to intervene during a mental health crisis,” she added.
“It is simply unfair for the commissioner to place the responsibility at the feet of the supervisors.”
Two fatal police shootings in Newfoundland and one in Toronto involving mentally ill men in the last decade likely could have been avoided if officers had been properly trained, Heafey contends.
“All police officers, including RCMP members, must be prepared to handle these types of situations.”