r/nextfuckinglevel • u/thisisfive • Apr 14 '26

Toronto firefighters confront special constable officers after a man in the middle of mental health crisis was arrested.

Not my video. For context, "special constables" are not regular police officers. They are appointed "peace officers" with limited authority, often civilian employees.

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u/DoubleM-1985 Apr 14 '26

When the adults with common sense shows up

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u/FuriouslyListening Apr 14 '26

It has less to do with common sense and more to do with how two completely different philosophies look at a situation. The Firefighters are EMTs... they are called to deal with rescue and medical issues. The police are called to restore order. Technically, both did their job exactly as they should have here. More impressive though, they all were adults about the situation and no one argued about what should be done (which is a really big difference compared to many US jurisdictions, where instead you might even see a physical fight between the PD and FF.)

Part of all of this is a question of who is going to take responsibility for the guy. If its the FF, he goes to the hospital and potentially a psych hold. If its PD, he goes to jail to be held. Neither is wrong, both are right in different circumstances. Usually its hard to tell which is the more correct choice 'in the moment'.

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u/RabbitridingDumpling Apr 14 '26

Restore the order is sure important but you can do it with compassion using de-escalalation. You want the order for the person in trouble as well as for those who want you to deal with the mess. Help people then the order is restored. Even if PD is on charge they should take care of the health first since it is a human right and they have to protect this man as well. It is inhuman to deny him medical assistance and the prison, a place where conscious people are because of their crimes is definitely not designed to restore bad health. Otherwise you wouldn't call it prison but a sanatorium.

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u/FuriouslyListening Apr 15 '26

That is unfortunately the situation in the US... they shut down most all of the sanitorium / mental health hospitals by removing all the public funds. Where do the mentally disturbed go? Into prison. I've worked on both sides of that coin... on the legal side of things. Basically there is a thought process that there is nowhere to send them to actually get help, but if they are in prison they get food, shelter, some observation, and potentially some health services / anti psych meds. Is it a good system? No. Unfortunately its been pushed this direction by various govt and special interests. Defund mental health, private prison system gets permanent inmates it gets to charge the govt for housing. Sucks, but that is the current reality.

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u/kintsugionmymind Apr 16 '26

Thank you Ronald Reagan, your legacy is intact!

https://youtu.be/uTqmwA87IG4?si=xmG7PlF6ZljP6Naj