Few Ottawa officers getting mental health training following Abdi death, numbers show

Despite calling it a "priority," the Ottawa Police Service hasnot bolstered mental health training for its officers in the wake of the death of Abdirahman Abdi, a mentally ill37-year-old man who died in July aftera violent arrest.

According to the force's own numbers, only 160 of its approximately1,400 officers, or 11 percent,have received special crisis intervention training to deal with mentally ill people.

• Improved police training could prevent deaths of people with mental illness, experts say

The majority of the officers given this training are patrol officers and new recruits.

Their inaction speaks louder than words. If something is a priority you don't drop the course.Lawrence Greenspon, Abdifamily lawyer

The training course is taught by a psychiatrist,involves a question-and-answer session with mentally ill patients, and goes beyond theuse-of-force training officers receive inpolice college.

The Ottawa Police Service hasoffered this specialized coursetwice a year since 2011, but no course was offered to frontline officers this year, and no training has been scheduled in the more than two months that have passed since Abdi's death.

The lack of training, given such a high profile and questionable in-custody death, troubles Lawrence Greenspon, the lawyer obtained by Abdi's family.

More mental health training needed, lawyer says

8 years ago

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Lawrence Greenspon, the lawyer for Abdirahman Abdi's family, says mental health training should be more of a priority for Ottawa police.

"Their inaction speaks louder than their words," said Greenspon. "If something is a priority, you don't drop the course."

Greenspon didn't elaborate on the type of mental illness Abdi had, but notedthat Ottawa police were aware he had mental health issues. TheSomali-Canadian had visited a police station before his death to seekhelp for his conditionand was subsequently treated in hospital, Greenspon said.

A violent arrest

On July 24, Abdi lost vital signs following a takedown by two officers at the entrance to his Hilda Streetapartment building.

• TIMELINE | Abdirahman Abdi's fatal encounter with Ottawa police

More than a dozen witnesses have told CBC News they saw two officers repeatedly strike Abdi on hishead and body, using batons and fists.

Family members who saw the arrest through the glass doors of the apartment foyersay they tried to tell police that Abdi had a mental illness, but that their screams were ignored.

Policecornered Abdi after he fleda nearby Bridgehead coffee shop where he reportedly groped people and had to be physically restrained and escorted out of the cafe. Abdi was a regular at the Bridgehead, and while staff and some customers were awarehe had a mental health issue, it's not known if that information was conveyed to the 911 dispatcher.

Still, police should have knownAbdi's behaviour at the time of his death was clearly indicative of someone who had mental health issues, Greenspon said.

'Gold standard'trainingshelved

For the past five years, Dr. Peter Boyles, anemergency room psychiatrist at The Ottawa Hospital,has been working side-by-side with an officer in the police force'smental health unit to train other officersin enhanced crisis intervention.

While his course has been described as the "gold standard" by senior officers, Boyleshasn't been asked to teach acourse this year.

Boyles has accompanied Ottawa police on 911 calls, and told CBC News thatofficers are dealing with an increasing number ofmentally ill peopleand are often put in extremely dangerous situations because they have limited information.

They may know a person has a mental illness, Boyles said,but not if he or she isbipolar or schizophrenic.

When people are mentally ill, I think the interaction has to slow down ... but frontline officers are extremely busy.Dr. Peter Boyles, Ottawa Hospitalpsychiatrist

Boylessaid he knowshis two-day course doesn't turn officers into "experts," but he aims to help them recognize the symptoms of different illnesses and the do's and don'ts ofhow to react.

In teaching officers how to handleviolent and suicidal people,Boyle often brings in some of his patients who have had dealings with police to answer questions about how they were treated and what measures were effective in calming them down.

Boyles stipulatedthat he teaches communication, not de-escalation. He said he'sconcerned Ottawa police officersare too often under pressure to resolve issues quickly.

"When people are mentally ill, I think the interaction has to slow down meaning it is going to take more time to deal with calls with mental illness," Boyles said. "But frontline officers are extremely busy."

Boyles saidpatrol officers who are the first on scene would benefit the most from hiscourse. But he said he's noticed recently that vacancies are sometimes filled by special constables or civilian staff.

Lack of police training blamed on staff shortages

Matt Skof, president of the Ottawa Police Association, saidthe lack of training is linked to an inability to backfill officers.

"We're short-staffed,so you don't have enough officers on the frontlines capable of going out of service to take a course," Skof said.

But even without the mental healthcourse, officers are adequately trained, Skofsaid.

"The training we have falls within provincial standards," he said.

Enhancedmental health training is still a "priority," said Staff Sgt. Dave Bal,butscheduling conflicts and staff shortages have limited the force's ability to provide the course.

Bal saidthe mental health unit is in the process of "expanding their pool of experts" and reaching out to other psychiatrists to teachthe course, instead of solelyrelying on Boyles.

Ottawa police haven'tset targets for mental health training, Bal added,beyond trying to ensureall new recruits get it. The force hopesto have two courses scheduled for officers by the end of November, he said.

For now police are focused on schedulingmandatory annual use-of-force training for their officersso they can improve their de-escalation techniques, even though a recent Ontario Ombudsman report found that training to be insufficient in dealing with people who are mentally ill.

Bal also refused to say if Daniel Montsion and Dave Weir, the two constablesbeinginvestigated by the province's Special Investigations Unit for their role in Abdi's death, received mental health training.

That's a question Lawrence Greensponsays needs to be answered.

"The whole point of taking the course is to enable officers on the street to handle [mentally ill people]more effectively in a more humane fashion," said Greenspon.

"To say they are too busy to be properly educated to do their job is a poor excuse ... if that training was received by officers in the Abdi case, would there be a different result?"