Stratford police gets provincial funding boost to enhance mental-health response capabilities

Stratford Police Service gets $240,000 over two years for mobile crisis response team

By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Stratford Police Service (SPS) is among several local police forces that will receive a funding boost from the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General to support their unique, community focused programs that help better protect the communities and people they serve.

Last week, Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae announced more than $700,000 in funding for police services in the riding, including $240,000 over the next two years for SPS for its mobile crisis response team (MCRT), a program started in 2019 in partnership with the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance that has qualified mental-health workers respond to calls involving people in crisis with frontline police officers, allowing for de-escalation and connection to mental-health services and resources as an alternative to arrest and treatment in hospital.

“Our communities continue to see a rise in vulnerable populations experiencing mental illness, addiction and homelessness,” Stratford police Chief Greg Skinner said. “ … Having a qualified mobile crisis response team worker available to respond to people in mental-health crisis and provide support and assessment in the field instead of apprehending and transporting to hospital is the most efficient and effective means to make referrals to community agencies.

“ … This program has been the most effective frontline support program to deal with vulnerable people in our communities. Having a mental illness is not a crime and that’s why I, as the chief of police, am supportive of the mobile crisis response team program and am grateful that the Ontario Government continues to financially support a program that has so many benefits to individuals and our communities of Stratford, St. Marys and Perth South.”

Rae also announced more than $267,000 over the next two years to support Perth County OPP’s MCRT enhancement program.

“It is great to see our provincial government supporting local police services to protect our rural communities,” Rae said in a press release. “This funding will help local police services and health-care workers offer specialized mental health supports to community members experiencing a mental health or addiction crisis. Our government will continue to support our first responders.”

In addition to the MCRT Grant funding, the province is also providing funding through its Community Safety and Policing Grant program – nearly $61,000 for the Perth County OPP thanks to a joint application between the West Perth and North Perth detachments, and nearly $178,000 for SPS to support the police service’s purpose-driven responses.

“That grant supports an enhancement to our special constable corps to support court security, community visibility and electronic low priority call response,” Skinner said. “With the changes to the Community Safety and Policing Act, the roles and responsibilities of special constables have expanded, allowing them to be assigned to more frontline duties in communities.”

Skinner said SPS is in the process of hiring four additional special constables, adding to the service’s six current special constables for a total of 10. 

“We will be implementing a deployment model that supports the three priorities listed above. We have heard from the community that they would like more visibility in the downtown cores during peak hours over and above the summer period and provide visibility in identified areas of concern within our policing jurisdiction. With these new positions, we intend to provide that increased visibility and add to the sense of safety and security that our residents feel as they’re out enjoying what our communities have to offer,” Skinner said. 

In addition to adding more special constables, Skinner said the police service continues to leverage technology to support community safety including cameras, lighting, signage, drones and automated licence plate readers, all of which play a role in preventing, detecting and solving crime.

Wellington County will also receive more than $187,000 through the Community Safety and Policing Grant program to support the Wellington Fraud Prevention and Response Strategy.

“Our government is taking decisive action to protect Ontario by ensuring police have the tools, resources and partnerships they need to keep our communities safe,” said Ontario Solicitor General Michael Kerzner in the press release.

The Community Safety and Policing Grant program is part of the government’s $91-million investment to support policing initiatives that focus on local or provincial priorities and provides eligible police services or boards and municipalities policed by the OPP with funding to deploy frontline officers where and when they are needed most.

For 2025-2026 and 2026-2027, 36 police services and OPP detachments across the province will receive approximately $9 million through the MCRT Enhancement Grant to increase the capacity of mobile crisis response teams.