Kelowna mayor Colin Basran has released his comments after the RCMPsa国际传媒檚 Southeast District held a news conference early on Thursday, July 2.
Mayor Basran said he still has concerns about the disturbing incident, but said itsa国际传媒檚 a good thing that an external police force will review the investigation into the rough detention of UBCO student Mona Wang.
sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 also a good thing that Ms. Wang will be provided with the findings of the internal process and if she has concerns with the findings, she can have it reviewed by the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP,sa国际传媒� Basran said in his statement.
sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檒l see what the investigative process determines and have more to say when that is concluded.sa国际传媒�
Basran added he and city manager Doug Gilchrist will be meeting with Interior Health next week to talk about the increasing numbers of calls for assistance on mental health incidents and how best to proceed in the future.
sa国际传媒淗owever, a new approach is going to take all levels of government and social agencies working together to address mental illness and addictions.sa国际传媒�
sa国际传媒淭he City of Kelowna is an active participant in this effort and we will continue to do whatever we can within our powers to find solutions,sa国际传媒� he said.
sa国际传媒淭he real issue here is the need to re-think our systems, how they are funded and are coordinated to provide the most effective response to the increasing and increasingly complex mental health needs in communities.sa国际传媒�
Basran said last year, the Kelowna detachmentsa国际传媒檚 officers responded to 3,561 mental health-related calls that resulted in 588 apprehensions under the Mental Health Act. Echoing what Supt. Brad Haugli said, mental health-related calls are up 21 per cent throughout the RCMPsa国际传媒檚 Southeast District in the past four years, with a further increase this year.
sa国际传媒淧olice perform a difficult and critical job in our community every day. While recent events are disturbing, we need to take this and other recent incidents as a moment to reconsider how we are funding and approaching these situations and take actions to find a better way to address them.sa国际传媒�
READ: RCMP brass addresses concerns over recent actions of police in the Southeast District
READ: Rough wellness check upsetting: Kelowna mayor
