The Ontario government is providing funding to support an on-the-street crisis response program designed to divert people away from hospital emergency rooms in Windsor.
The Windsor Police Service is receiving $632,970 from the Ontario Government's Community Safety and Policing Grant program to support the Crisis Response Team (CRT).
The CRT pairs crisis intervention-trained (CIT) police officers with CIT-trained social workers from Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, who have expertise in mental health and de-escalation techniques, to respond to mental health and substance abuse issues within the city.
These teams assist individuals presenting with symptoms of mental illness, substance use, and behavioural disorders, as well as people in acute crisis situations, with the goal of diverting them from hospital emergency rooms and freeing up frontline patrol officers.
The provincial funding is paired with $756,000 from Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare to fund the program.
Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare President and CEO Bill Marra says the CRT goes to around 340 calls a month.
"In eight months alone this year, over 1,000 unique clients received service, 85 per cent of them were diverted from the ER, and 517 of them received some sort of community referral," he says.
Marra says it's making a difference and having an impact.
"The alternative would be in a hospital bed, which would back up the system at Windsor Regional. The alternative could be a jail cell, or the alternative could be a grave, and that's not overstating it. These are folks that are in crisis, and when they're desperate, they think of desperate ways of dealing with their crisis," he says.
The hours of operation for the CRT are seven days per week, from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., providing overlap coverage with the Nurse Police Team during peak hours and reducing the number of calls to which patrol units must respond.
Marra says they've been part of these partnerships for a decade.
"The difference today is that the magnitude of the people that need service and the acuity of them have increased dramatically over time. We're able to take pressure off other service providers to deal with real-time intervention for that individual in a crisis," he says.
Zee Hamid, Ontario's Associate Solicitor General, Auto Theft and Bail Reform, announced the funding Thursday at Windsor Police Headquarters.
Another $1,142,800 was also announced to support the Windsor Police Service Problem-Oriented Policing Unit, which sees officers work with community stakeholders to support crime suppression operations while also addressing the key drivers of crime and disorder through proactive, targeted responses to community safety concerns.
The Nurse Police Team is also receiving $500,000 to continue its work. The NPT is a partnership with Windsor Regional Hospital that pairs frontline officers with nursing professionals to deliver proactive care to people struggling with substance use and mental health challenges. It was initially launched as a pilot project in May 2023.