Mounting deaths stemming from police wellness checks a ‘wake-up call,’ says Senator

‘We need to address poverty and support community programs to prevent many of the situations that police are being asked to handle with guns and handcuffs,' says NDP critic Don Davies.

Independent Senator Stan Kutcher, a former leading psychiatrist, doesn’t think police should be removed from wellness checks, but says it’s clear a new model and better de-escalation training is needed. Photograph courtesy of Senate Communications

News

BY SAMANTHA WRIGHT ALLEN

July 1, 2020

It’s time to “reset” how police and health professionals respond to people in crisis, says a Senator and former leading psychiatrist, in the wake of several police wellness checks that ended in the deaths of the people being checked on.

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