Three years after the suicide of a Toronto police officer prompted the province’s police watchdog to promise a systemic review of officer mental health, the review still hasn’t begun. Back in 2016, director Gerry McNeilly said that a growing number of complaints he was hearing about police mental health issues signalled a pressing need to tackle the problem, province-wide. The watchdog is in the midst of two others, examining policies around strip searches and police use of force against people in mental health crisis. Rogers stresses that she is pleased Huyer has launched his review, saying it will at least garner more attention to the issue of police mental health. “Whereas the older guys, who have been around for a while, their idea of handling (mental health issues) was to go out drinking after a shift,” she said.

Source: thestar January 11, 2019 00:23 UTC