The Ontario government is providing $426,860.34 in funding to support Peterborough region police providing specialized support to people who experience a mental health or addictions crisis.
Both the Peterborough Police Service and the Peterborough County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) are receiving funding over the next two years under the province’s Mobile Crisis Response Team (MCRT) Enhancement Grant, with the Peterborough Police Service receiving $240,000 and the Peterborough County OPP receiving $186,860.34.
The funding was announced at a media event on Friday (September 26) at the Peterborough police station, attended by Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith, Peterborough police chief Stuart Betts, Peterborough County OPP inspector and detachment commander Chris Galleazza, and representatives from Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) and the Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (CMHA HKPR).
Friday’s announcement follows a provincial announcement on September 12 of $9 million in funding under the MCRT Enhancement to 36 police services and OPP detachments across Ontario in 2025-2026 and 2026-27.
Along with the funding for Peterborough Police Service and Peterborough County OPP, that announcement also included $239,933 for the Northumberland OPP.
Mobile crisis response teams consist of police officers and crisis workers working together to respond to complex situations where mental health or addictions may be a factor. Supported by the police, crisis workers can assess if a person should be sent to an emergency department for immediate treatment or whether a referral is needed to community programs that support mental and physical well-being.
The $240,000 in funding for the Peterborough Police Service will allow for the re-establishment a Mobile Crisis Intervention Team (MCIT) with PRHC, consisting a registered practical nurse and a qualified officer. The team will be embedded within the police service and provide immediate and follow-up responses to those experiencing mental health and addiction crises.
An MCIT partnership with PRHC originally began in November 2022, but was only funded by a provincial grant until March 31, 2023.
The origins of the Peterborough Police Service’s first MCIT go back to 2011, when a CMHA HKPR outreach worker began working out of the Peterborough police station. The outreach worker rode along with police officers, attending mental health calls and following up on the calls. The MCIT was born in 2018 when a police officer was added to the unit.
A second MCIT partnership with CMHA HKPR was supported by surplus funds re-allocated by the City of Peterborough in the Peterborough Police Service’s 2021 budget. The funding to CMHA HKPR was renewed in 2024 for an additional two years.
CMHA HKPR also participates in MCIT’s with OPP detachments in Peterborough County, the City of Kawartha Lakes, and Haliburton County, in addition to its team with the Peterborough Police Service.
According to the Peterborough Police Service, officers responded to 3,140 mental health and addictions occurrences between January 2022 and December 2024 — a 38 per cent increase over the previous three years.
