UBCM Resolution - Police Officers Accompanying Patients to Hospitals

"THAT the following resolution be forwarded to the 2024 Union of British Columbia Municipalities' 2024 convention: WHEREAS Section 28 of the British Columbia Mental Health Act specifies a police officer should accompany persons to hospitals with apparent mental disorders and acting in a manner likely to endanger the safety of themselves or others; AND WHEREAS the opioid and mental health crisis in British Columbia communities has resulted in an increase in the number and length of times police officers are immobilized to the service of the greater community to sit in hospital waiting rooms while accompanying apprehended individuals until they are seen by a physician; THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Union of British Columbia Municipalities call on the Provincial government to amend Section 28 of the British Columbia Mental Health Act so that trained hospital staff be given special constable status and peace officer status to relieve police officers of the responsibility of attending hospital emergency departments with apprehended individuals."