Police chief warns about spike in mental-health checks; defends officers’ conduct

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/01/2024 (656 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police Chief Danny Smyth defended officers’ handling of mental health calls Thursday, as Manitoba’s police watchdog probes two incidents, including a fatal shooting, that happened less than a week apart.

On Wednesday, officers fired two “less-lethal” weapons at an “agitated” man who they say was holding a sharp pencil to his neck at a Winnipeg Child and Family Services office in St. Boniface.

“This call had a positive outcome. No one was seriously injured, but I can say that these types of calls are trending up in Winnipeg,” Smyth told reporters afterward. “Well-being checks, domestics, suicide threats — they’re all trending up.”

On New Year’s Eve, 19-year-old international student Afolabi Stephen Opaso was having a mental health crisis when he was fatally shot by police, according to a local lawyer who represents his family in Nigeria.

The spike in well-being calls — which have climbed to almost 21,000 per year to become most frequent type of call — has not led to an increase in the use of force by officers, Smyth said.

A vast majority of incidents do not require any kind of force, he said, while defending the Winnipeg Police Service’s training and protocols.

In 2022, 0.33 per cent, or 780, of 234,212 dispatched calls for service led to officers filing reports of applying force or presenting a weapon to gain compliance, according to the most recent WPS data.

Smyth said he doesn’t know what is driving the increase in well-being calls, but the trend began around the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He acknowledged there aren’t enough mental-health services or clinicians in Manitoba to meet the current demand.

Since being sworn in last October, the Manitoba government has pledged to expand services and hire 100 more clinicians to join officers on non-violent calls for help.

“I think that will be helpful,” said Smyth.

The fatal shooting of Opaso generated discussion about how well-being calls are handled.

Police said the University of Manitoba student was holding two knives and confronted two officers when they responded to a University Crescent apartment suite, which was occupied by two other people.

In an audio recording, officers shouted “drop the knife” three times before firing three shots.

In Wednesday’s incident, CFS staff alerted police when an erratic 30-year-old man, who has a mental health history, tried to drag his female partner outside, Smyth told a news conference.

The man allegedly grabbed a pencil off a desk, held it to his neck and threatened to stab himself, when tactical officers arrived at the building, at 222 Provencher Blvd., shortly after 11 am.

Eric Chaput, who works across the street, said he watched from a window while officers, who were holding rifles, entered the building.

“They all rushed in, in one line,” he said.

Police said the officers’ verbal commands failed to de-escalate the situation, so they fired a 40-millimetre rubber-tipped foam round and a Taser in a bid to subdue the man.

The foam round hit one of his legs, causing a bruise, while the Taser’s prongs failed to attach, said Smyth.

The man fell to the lobby floor, where he allegedly reached for another object to use to harm himself.

Officers grappled with the man and handcuffed him.

He was still behaving “erratically” and had to be sedated by paramedics before being taken to hospital for an assessment, said police.

His partner, who is in her 30s, and CFS employees were not injured.

A witness, who declined to give her name, said the man was yelling while he was taken out of the CFS office on a stretcher, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying.

The man will not be charged. His partner did not want to go through the criminal process, said Smyth.

The couple recently moved to Winnipeg from Ontario, he added.

Smyth said the incident was not suitable for the alternative response to citizens in crisis program, which pairs officers and clinicians to help people in a mental health crisis in non-emergency situations that do not involve violence or the risk of violence.

Sunday’s fatal shooting was also not suited, police said.

Smyth said the WPS will bring in a clinician only when a situation is stabilized and safe.

The shortage of clinicians prevented the program from expanding to seven days a week, he added.

Winnipeg’s Police Accountability Coalition is advocating for a civilian-led crisis service similar to one piloted in Toronto. Teams of clinicians respond to non-emergency and non-violent wellness checks without police.

Reuben Garang, executive director of Immigration Partnership Winnipeg, said he supports a “community-led” intervention program.

“There is a need for a better way to deal with those people instead of putting them in more dangerous situations,” said Garang. “They need our support as a community, as a society.”

The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba is investigating Wednesday’s incident because the foam round caused an injury.

The civilian police watchdog is also investigating the shooting deaths of Opaso and a 52-year-old man, who was shot dead after he allegedly took people hostage in a Furby Street apartment suite Dec. 28.

The man was a person of interest in the slaying of B.C. trucker Farah Mohamud, 34, whose body had been found in the same West Broadway building on Boxing Day.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Jen Zoratti | Next

Wednesdays

What's next in arts, life and pop culture.

Sign up for Jen Zoratti | Next

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Smyth said he doesn’t know if there were opportunities to use intermediate weapons, such as a Taser, before lethal force was used in those incidents.

The police chief said officer-involved incidents “can come in clusters.” There were three fatal shootings in both 2022 and 2023, and none in 2021.

Typically, officers have a “check-in” with the force’s behavioural health unit, which has a psychologist, so they can return to work and participate in an investigation, said Smyth.

The recent police shootings also sparked discussion about body-worn cameras. Smyth said he supports the use of bodycams, but they are not a “panacea” to certain issues.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Chris Kitching
Reporter

Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.

Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.