"Ware said he& #39;s concerned that expanding the MCIT will lead to increased police involvement in mental health and crisis calls."

No... It won& #39;t. The police have been the primary response to mental health calls for decades. So, MCIT or not, the police will be there. /1 https://twitter.com/CBCToronto/status/1306532926184620033">https://twitter.com/CBCToront...

Plus, one of the (many) objectives of MCITs (and other co-responses) is to actually DECREASE involvement with police and the CJS by redirecting them to mental health resources. Numerous studies show that redirection is much higher for co-responses relative to the frontline. /2

Many officers who I& #39;ve spoken to say that they& #39;d like to get out of the "business" of responding to mental health calls. I agree with them, and I& #39;m sure many others do as well. /3

However, the fact is this: shifting a few hundred thousand dollars away from MCIT expansion toward community-based care is not going to do anything. Mental health care has been chronically underfunded for decades and needs MUCH more money than that to have any impact. /4

In the end, mental health care would remain (very) underfunded, MCITs would not be expanded, and guess who would still be responsible for responding to mental health calls? The police. /5