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Owen Sound’s police chief is interested in pursuing a Carlton University research project into barriers people face to get mental health and addiction help.

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Craig Ambrose mentioned the opportunity during last week’s police board meeting. Agreements with community partners in the city need to be obtained before the project may proceed, he said. The aim is to conduct the study this summer. 

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The researchers are interested in studying gaps in service in smaller and mid-sized communities, for which there is a relative lack of data, he understands. “So we’re just in the final process of getting that approved and moving forward.” 

Later in an interview, Ambrose said police are “very interested” in identifying service gaps for the local population of people with mental health and addiction problems. 

“It’s going to take the perspective of the individual living the experience. So there may be services, there may be things that are provided, but what are the barriers to using those services?” Ambrose said. 

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People do fall through the cracks. And police get called for a lot of things that aren’t necessarily a police issue, he said, “and we’re not the best to serve the community in that fashion but we’re the 24/7 responders . . .” 

“Are there options that we could use that would limit police response and make more of a community response?” 

There is overlap between police investigations into criminal issues and dealing with assisting with social issues, he said. But sometimes with police involvement it “creates a bit of a stigma” just by police showing up “because some people don’t know whether you’re there for a social issue or whether you’re there for a criminal issue.” 

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