Voluntary database 'failed to do job'

Watchdog says poor management led to low uptake in police project to protect people in crisis

- WENDY GILLIS

A voluntary police registry created for mentally ill and vulnerable people has “failed to do its job,” a report from the city’s ombudsman has concluded, exposing problems with a program aimed in part at reducing the number people in crisis killed by police.

Launched by Toronto police in 2019, the “vulnerable person’s registry” — a database to help people with limited cognitive or communication abilities — may have been well-intentioned but has been marked by mistakes and missteps, watchdog Kwame Addo found, chief among them that “no one” seemed to have taken responsibility for the project since it launched.

Just 305 people have signed up in nearly five years — a dismal participation rate Addo found “should not have been surprising” given poor management and communication failures that meant few Torontonians understood the program let alone knew about its existence.

“I believe there is one common underlying issue for the low registration numbers: a failure for someone or a unit within the service to take responsibility for the registry,” Addo wrote in the report, released Thursday.

“No one is promoting the registry on an ongoing basis, nor is anyone reviewing how communications can be improved, ensuring staff are fulfilling their roles, or providing a central place where people can get consistent answers to their questions.”

The failing grade for the registry is a disappointment to advocates who have long called for changes to how police handle mental health calls, and comes as police forces across the country face continued pressure to reduce force used against people in crisis in the wake of high-profile deaths.