Police's vulnerable persons registry not doing its job: ombudsman

Only 305 people are registered in Toronto police's vulnerable persons registry because the service failed to promote it properly and no one took responsibility for managing it, a report by the city's ombudsman has found.

Toronto ombudsman Kwame Addo says in the report released Thursday that a lack of accountability led to communication gaps about the vulnerable persons registry (VPR).

The Toronto Police Service (TPS) launched the registry in December 2019 to allow the public to file "personalized de-escalation strategies" to help officers support people with emotional, psychological, medical, or other physical conditions. Addo said the registry would ideally help inform how officers interact with vulnerable people, but problems arose once it was launched.

In a news release on Thursday, Addo said the registry "has failed to do its job."

"Due to communication failures and poor management, the individuals who would benefit or be supported by this resource weren't registering for the service," Addo said in an interview on Thursday.

On top of that, dedicated training was only provided in the first two years of the program and hasn't existed since, he said.

"It's unreasonable to expect officers who don't know about the service, or who are not familiar with the service, to be able to promote it," he added.

Low registration numbers not surprising: ombudsman

Addo said the low registration numbers are not surprising.

"No one within the Toronto Police Service took responsibility for managing the Vulnerable Persons Registry," Addo said.

Police's community partnership and engagement unit was supposed to be in charge of the registry, but told the ombudsman that it was not responsible for managing it. "Liaison officers" were supposed to promote it, Addo said his office was told.

"This lack of accountability created gaps in the Toronto Police Service's communication about the registry. No one is promoting the registry on an ongoing basis, nor is anyone reviewing how communications can be improved, ensuring staff are fulfilling their roles, or providing a central place where people can get consistent answers to their questions," Addo said.

Toronto police launched the vulnerable persons registry in December 2019 to give the public a way to file 'personalized de-escalation strategies' to help officers support people with emotional, psychological, medical, or other physical conditions. (Richard Agecoutay/CBC)

According to Addo, the announcement of the registry was low key and one time, despite police staff saying it should have been ongoing. There was no planned targeted promotion, nor any events to promote community awareness, he said.

More information about the registry is needed on the police's website, he said.

As well, police did not complete a review of the registry's impact on the privacy of registrants and their personal information.

Colin Stairs, chief information officer for TPS, said in an interview Thursday that the service accepts the ombudsman found faults in the customer service aspects of the registry, "particularly the communication and marketing of the program."

"The program has not had enough management attention in its previous incarnation, so it's a little bit underfunded and under-supported," he told CBC Toronto.

Improving various aspects of the registry is part of a wider effort by TPS to "think about service delivery in a more holistic way," Stairs said.

Recommendations include contact person, training

The ombudsman made 13 recommendations to police to improve its communication about the registry. The police should, among other things:

• Make public "meaningful and detailed" information about the goal and registry's purpose.

• Assign a contact person who can answer questions from the public.

• Train staff about their roles and responsibilities regarding the registry.

• Explain how police will use registrant's personal information.

Natalie Clancy, spokesperson for the Toronto police, said in a statement the registry is intended to better serve vulnerable members of the community. Information about registrants is provided voluntarily to police by caregivers or by vulnerable persons themselves.

Clancy said the information, which includes things such as de-escalation strategies, is provided to officers when they respond to calls involving registrants to help police achieve the "best and safest outcomes" for vulnerable persons.

"We thank Ombudsman Toronto for their thoughtful report and commit to fully implementing the recommendations," Clancy said.

Toronto's Ombudsman Kwame Addo says of the vulnerable persons registry: 'Due to communication failures and poor management, the individuals who would benefit or be supported by this resource weren't registering for the service.' (CBC)

"The recommendations are in line with our broader commitment to policing reforms, including how we can best serve community members affected by mental health challenges and intellectual disabilities. We are currently exploring improving the delivery of the registry through a third party and will continue to work with our communities to co-develop changes to the current program," Clancy said.

In the interview, Stairs clarified the third-party is MedicAlert, which is currently running a pilot program in Ottawa. The intent is to potentially consolidate use of a vulnerable persons registry across police forces, so a single registry is available in various municipalities.

Stairs said including a trusted third-party may encourage more members of the public to share their private health information, as some people have reservations about providing that information directly to police services.

TPS is set to present a report on how it will go about implementing the recommendations at a December meeting of the police services board.

Registry could make a difference: advocates

Alok Mukherjee, former chair of the Toronto Police Services Board, said: "Frankly, I am always afraid for the safety of young people with autism in interactions with police, and the vulnerable persons registry was one of the ways to mitigate anything going wrong in those interactions.

'It is extremely frustrating to find, even to this day, the vulnerable persons registry is not being used to the extent it needs to be."

Leah Kocmarek, a director of Ontario Autism Coalition, said the registry has the potential to make a difference.

"We're still continuing to hear reports of adults on the spectrum who have met with the police in crisis situations and they aren't positive outcomes," Kocmarek said.

"I think for the police to have more knowledge on what it means to be a vulnerable person in the community can only benefit society."