The Victoria Police Department is again asking for a budget increase to fund two officers who would help people with mental-health issues. It’s a request that Victoria councillors turned down last year but Mayor Lisa Helps hopes will be approved for 2017.
The department presented a provisional 2017 budget at a police board meeting with Victoria and Esquimalt council on Tuesday night. It asks for a $2.2-million increase from this year’s budget of about $50.8 million, including $240,141 to fund the two new mental-health officers.
“Because we’re on the front lines, in parks, alleyways, on the streets … when we come across people who need help, we’re in the best position to connect them to those resources,” said Acting Police Chief Del Manak.
The department has only one officer dedicated to helping the four Assertive Community Treatment teams in the region. A second officer was added in July as part of a six-month pilot project.
The two new officers would be focused on helping people before they are in crisis, Manak said.
Victoria police are in the process of developing a mental-health strategy that clearly states the department’s approach to responding to mental-health calls, treating them as a health issue rather than a criminal one, Manak said.
Both Helps and Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins said they voted in favour of the new officers last year and remain supportive.
“There’s a stereotype that police and people who are street-involved don’t mix well,” Helps said. “In some cases that’s true. But … police can be helpful in keeping them safe and connecting them to the services they need.”
Unlike outreach workers, police are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week and are the first point of call when someone is in distress, Helps said.
Victoria Coun. Geoff Young balked at the proposed increases and said mental-health costs should be covered by the provincial government.
“We’re in a bit of a quandary,” Young said. “We want to provide these services where they are necessary, but at the same time are being very cognizant that as we provide them, the needs increase and the province tends to leave us shouldering the burden.”
The bulk of the total budget increase comes from increased salary and benefits to existing staff, totaling $1.375 million. Council will vote on the proposed budget in January.
