Victoria city councilors are split on the issue of hiring more police officers for a Mental Health Response Team.
The police department is asking for an extra $240-thousand dollars to hire two new officers for the Mental Health Response Team, which partners with Island Health and service providers.
"That is a provincial health responsibility," argued councilor Ben Isitt during the budget debate. He echoed the concerns of a few others on council who felt it was health authorities and not local taxpayers who should be on the hook.
Councilor Marianne Alto had different reasons for her reservations, "the vulnerable populations that we're dealing with are still not the right fit for the way that they understand police officer's work. And I still don't think police themselves have just enough of the right type of training."
But councilors were evenly split on the issue. "We are at the back of the line. Look across the country at every other major city - officers are deployed in concert with mental health providers," said Mayor Lisa Helps who was one of those supporting the request. "In a perfect world, yes, the province and every province across the country would step up and fund these officers... but they're not doing that.”
The discussion also addressed the fact that police are often on the front lines of mental health problems regardless. The mayor pointed out that “in the middle of the night, nobody is going to call a social worker. They're going to call the police."
Council is inviting the public to write them with opinions before they try to decide on the budget request at their January 26th meeting.