What the data says: Mental health, non-criminal calls, and the case for alternative response

This article is related directly to the Seventh International Conference on Law Enforcement & Public Health (LEPH) held in Ottawa, Canada in July 2025.

Abstract

Police services across Canada are increasingly responding to mental health-related calls that stem from social and health challenges rather than criminal behaviour. Despite the availability of crisis lines and community-based mental health resources, many of these calls continue to be routed through police dispatch. This paper presents a data-informed case study from the Barrie Police Service, analyzing over 1,400 calls for service using Uniform Crime Reporting codes, Records Management System entries, and Computer-Aided Dispatch data. The findings reveal that the majority of mental health-related calls are non-criminal, non-reportable, and do not result in apprehensions or charges. Notably, there were discrepancies between how calls were initially reported and how they were later classified, with only one-third originally categorized as Mental Health Act related. Call priority data further revealed that just 1% of mental health calls indicated an immediate safety concern, while 44% were classified as moderate safety risks. The remaining 55% of calls did not present significant safety threats, suggesting they could be more appropriately handled by non-police, community-based response teams. These results challenge prevailing narratives that equate mental illness with risk and harm, and they highlight the need for upstream, community-based interventions tailored to individuals with repeated police interactions.