A new partnership between the RCMP and Interior Health is targeting people who need help dealing with mental health and substance abuse issues.
The Police and Crisis Team pairs up an officer with a psychiatric nurse, so the two of them can respond to calls together, and treat vulnerable people more efficiently.
Kelowna RCMP's Officer in Charge Brent Mundle explained what that means.
"There may be instances in the future now, where (in the past) we had transported people to the hospital, where now the nurse can deal with them at the scene, perhaps provide crisis intervention at that time, and maybe refer them to other community supports rather than the need to take them to the hospital," he said.
He says there are also some stats they'll be monitoring to see if the program is working.
"We'll be looking at if we see a reduction in the amount of time we're spending at the hospital, if there's been a reduction in our mental health apprehensions," he said.
"I'm assuming Interior Health will be looking to determine if they've had a reduction in people presenting to the hospital. So there's a whole number of things that we'll be evaluating and bringing together."
Mundle says he didn't need to make any new hires, as the city budgeted to add six new officers a couple years ago.
And though the partnership was revealed in the city's latest budget, details were fully laid out yesterday.
Mayor Colin Basran says the city is practicing what council has been preaching.
"In my first State of the City address three years ago, council said we wanted to make progress on mental health issues in our community," he said.
"We need to pay better attention to the most vulnerable people in our city, because it is the foundation for building a safe, health, and inclusive community."
The new crisis intervention team has been training together this month, and had their first shift on Monday.
Mundle says that to start, their shifts will fall between Monday and Friday, between 11 am and 7 pm.