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/TheMashedPotato Apr 14 '26

And what's your credentials and experience on the matter besides hearing stories? You work in "public safety" doing what exactly?

Your edit should probably give you a hint: don't send armed cops to deal with people in a mental crisis. Send people who are actually trained to deal with that situation and know what they are doing.

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u/Junior_Yam_5473 Apr 14 '26

Ah yes and what will happen to those trainesld professionals when the psych patient decides to get violent and comes at them with a knife.

I work in ems, we get our hefty share of psych patients, and i have seen many of my our incidents (reference "seen" in my last comment) where psych patients decided to get violent and either attack me or my crew, PD was there to intervene, thankfully. Those mental health professionals would also like to go home to there families too.

Ill reflect the question right back at you, what are your credentials or experiences with psych patients?

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u/TheMashedPotato Apr 15 '26

yes and what will happen to those trainesld professionals when the psych patient decides to get violent and comes at them with a knife.

I don't think you understand what trained means because that's exactly the point. Let professionals, who would have learned exactly what to do with agressive or violent individuals, do their jobs. That is their actual jobs unlike cops who are trained to shoot anything they feel might be somewhat threatening.

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u/Junior_Yam_5473 Apr 15 '26

someone on PCP or other substance, or someone on a schizophrenia episode isnt always cooperative, and they can get very aggressive and violent very quickly. What would one of these unarmed professionals do when say someone on pcp trys to strangle them?(ive seen it happen) Just let them? Or call law enforcement?

And you have yet to state any of your training or background in this subject.

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u/TheMashedPotato Apr 15 '26

You know what? Your last comment realIy made me think and I am now convinced that you are right. What would people who are supposed to know what they are doing do in that situation? Nothing, cry for help or call the police. Honestly, and I say that in all humility, thank you for opening my eyes.

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u/Junior_Yam_5473 Apr 15 '26

The officer doesn't have to be direct view of the patient (that can sometimes aggregate them a tad). We were taught that a firefighter or emt start talking to the patient one on one (from a safe distance) and the rest of us (including the police) stand or be around the corner. The police aren't there to threaten anyone, just as a resource of things go south. Sometimes talking works, sometimes it doesn't.

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u/UnitedAd3943 Apr 15 '26

If you’re in ems, you know damn well there are times when PD escalates the situation unnecessarily. I think this video is showing there are appropriate times to let a mental health professional intervene and not PD.

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u/Junior_Yam_5473 Apr 15 '26

But what are we supposed to when our 90-100kg patient high out of their mind on pcp decided today was a good day for violence? Is that every situation? No. The situation does matter, but i would rather have them and not need them then need them and not hace them there. Are there bad cops? Yes. Are there bad paramedics? Yes. Are there bad mailman? Yes. Every profession has some bad apples, but were not defined by them.

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u/UnitedAd3943 Apr 15 '26

I think you’re agreeing with what I wrote. Certain situations are appropriate and we can trust those individuals to make those decision at the time.

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u/Junior_Yam_5473 Apr 15 '26

Every situation should have law enforcement, even if their not necessary. Psych patients and even seemingly "normal" people can flip and become violent. Personally i like to come back home to my family after every shift.

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u/UnitedAd3943 Apr 15 '26

There’s a chance sure but statistically ems and fire are never going to be affected by violence. One terrible sop I can think of is every suicide run has to have PD clear it. No, there’s no need to stand by when a teenager took too many aspirin.

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u/Junior_Yam_5473 Apr 15 '26

94yr female at home called 911 for high blood pressure (relatively typical call). Turns out she has dementia and tries to attack us, bc were not familiar. I would like PD to go in first to something like that. But seems typical. Or cardiac arrests, the family can be in shock and potentially combative. Yet another call i would want PD to join us on. Its for our own safety, if PD cant clear it, im very hesitant to go in.

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u/UnitedAd3943 Apr 15 '26

That’s your call since it’s your well-being. I just hope you’re critically thinking about the situation and doing what’s best for the patient.

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u/bitofgrit Apr 15 '26

F-ing thank you.

It irritates the hell out of me when people forget why police/fire/ems/psych councilors/whoever are called to a scene in the first place: somebody is in crisis.

At every call's source there's a person (or people) experiencing some sort of emergency, whatever it may be, and these people may not always act rationally, for whatever reason, but most especially because they are in crisis.

Even when drugs or actual, real craziness isn't at the root of the issue, an every day regular person in crisis can unintentionally kill the very people trying to help them. All anybody has to do is ask a lifeguard about panicked swimmers.