‘Not enough’ officers in OPS’s mental health unit, sergeant tells inquest [Video]

The Abdirahman Abdi inquest is being livestreamed during the day here. 

When the Ottawa Police Service’s (OPS) mental health unit launched over two decades ago, it had five members — a figure that remains the same today despite a high proportion of use-of-force incidents involving people in crisis, a coroner’s inquest is hearing. 

Abdirahman Abdi, 38, was a Somali-Canadian man who struggled with his mental health. He died in July 2016 after a violent police arrest. The inquest is diving into the circumstances of his death in an effort to prevent other people from meeting the same fate.

Sgt. Dodd Tapp, who leads the mental health unit, was asked on Day 11 of the inquest how many officers he has on a daily basis. 

“The short answer? Not enough,” Tapp said Monday. He went on to explain how some days the unit maxes out at four officers, two per shift, calling it a “minimal-sized unit.” 

Lawrence Greenspon, one of the …