In an average day, the majority of the calls the Weyburn Police Service receives aren’t necessarily criminal in nature. Often times, the calls stem from a situation where the police are called upon to intervene due to a crisis. This can be a crisis due to mental health, addiction, or a number of other factors. Officers then take on a role to de-escalate the situation, almost working like an impromptu counselor.

“Often it is, at least, initial counselling, or trying to de-escalate a situation and able to calm the person down to either take them to some help, or get some help coming their way,” explained Rod Stafford with the Weyburn Police Service. He added the training officers receive, both as a recruit at the Saskatchewan Police College, and through annual training, helps to deal with situations where a person may be dealing with mental health issues.

There is an idiom which says ‘The police see people at the absolute worst moments, and at their absolute best’. Stafford says it is more true than not.

“For those people that are in crisis, at that moment, that probably is the very worst,” he said. This is where the training comes in handy, to help with the de-escalation of situations which could go one way or the other.