Hamilton police aim to help mental health

[projekktor id=’19209′]

Hamilton Police introducing new strategies today aimed at helping officers who may be suffering from mental health issues. This comes in the wake of recent suicides by police officers in the city.

Chief Glenn De Caire says that Hamilton Police plan to have new training for all officers in order to help them mentally prepare for the job, but also encourage people to talk.

The presentation was made at this afternoon’s police services board meeting at City Hall. Chief De Caire created a committee of members within the police service in March of 2014 to evaluate the programs in place, and make recommendations. Today the chief presented their plan for the future.

The new training is a program called “The Road to Mental Readiness” and is currently in use by the Canadian Armed Forces. Many programs have been in place for years but the fear is that officers and other employees may have been reluctant to use them for fear that they could be labelled.

The Chief says that all 1200 officers will receive the new training by the fall. He will provide a progress report to the police services board in September.