National

B.C. promises $3M to expand program that partners cops with health-care providers

Darpan News Desk IANS, 17 Jul, 2023 12:33 PM

British Columbia is spending $3 million to expand a program that partners health-care workers with police to respond to mental-health-related calls.

Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the program aim is to connect people in crisis to the appropriate services in their community and take pressure off stretched police resources.

Our government is taking action on the biggest challenges we face to keep people and communities healthy and thriving. pic.twitter.com/oYbhtyOlPy
— Mike Farnworth (@mikefarnworthbc) July 17, 2023

New teams are being funded for Abbotsford, Port Coquitlam/Coquitlam, Burnaby, Chilliwack, Penticton, Vernon, Squamish, Prince Rupert and the Westshore on southern Vancouver Island.

Similar programs already exist in 10 B.C. communities including Kamloops, Victoria, Surrey and Vancouver.

The government says one in five interactions with police in B.C. involve someone with a mental-health disorder.

Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Jennifer Whiteside did not provide a specific timeline for when the new programs would be running, but says she anticipates them in “fairly short order.”

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

B.C. communities brace for weekend rain as floods forecast in southern Interior

Grand Forks, not far from the Canada-U.S. border, is one of many communities under threat in B.C.'s southern and central Interior. A week of record temperatures followed by rain have combined to create conditions ripe for flooding.

B.C. communities brace for weekend rain as floods forecast in southern Interior

Break and enter in Nanaimo hair salon

Mounties in Nanaimo are asking for the public's help in identifying two people accused of breaking into a local hair salon. They say police responded to a glass break alarm at Cosmo Prof on April 25th and found its door had been "smashed out."

Break and enter in Nanaimo hair salon

Leader of BC United Kevin Falcon appalled over drug trafficker arrest

Falcon called on Premier David Eby and members of his cabinet to denounce the alleged activity as completely unacceptable. Vancouver police arrested a 51-year-old man for selling cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin out of a trailer parked in one of the neighbourhood's main intersections.

Leader of BC United Kevin Falcon appalled over drug trafficker arrest

Surrey RCMP need assault suspects of South Asian descent to be identified

Surrey RCMP is releasing two short videos from the scene that shows three suspects who are believed to be involved in the assault. The first video shows a suspect who is described as a South Asian man in his mid-20s to early-30s, with a long black beard, wearing all dark clothing, blue vest and a small blue turban.

Surrey RCMP need assault suspects of South Asian descent to be identified

Surrey Ethics commissioner reviewing complaint against a councillor

Rob Stutt is a former R-C-M-P officer and the Surrey municipal police union says Stutt's children are currently employed by the Mounties. The union says Stutt was in a conflict of interest when he voted to keep the R-C-M-P in Surrey, noting that the vote passed by a razor-thin margin of five to four.

Surrey Ethics commissioner reviewing complaint against a councillor

Vancouver man arrested in relation to illicit drug dispensary

Vancouver police have arrested a 51-year-old man for drug trafficking in connection with an illicit drug dispensary. Officers say the suspect was selling cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin out of a mobile trailer in the city's Downtown Eastside.