A member of the Regional Crisis Negotiation Unit, comprised of officers from the Altona, Morden, and Winkler Police Services, will be off to the Canadian Police College for training thanks to $5,894.57 in Criminal Property Forfeiture Funding from the Province.
Thanks to the grant, Constable Brendan Funk with the Altona Police Service will be able to obtain his official negotiator training and earn a certificate in Crisis Negotiation. It's just one of the many areas of interest and roles the Constable has as part of his job.
"As we're moving in a very dynamic world nowadays, the need for crisis negotiation is very apparent in the day-to-day operations in our communities and around the World," he said. "And so, when the opportunity arose to join the existing (RCNU) team, it was a no-brainer for me."
Considering the situations where the RCNU is typically called to, such as the incident last week in Winkler where a man was taken into custody under the Mental Health Act after almost three hours of negotiating, Cst. Funk says dignity plays a huge role in resolving a situation.
"Granted, we deal with people in crisis every day that we're on the job, but when we called to a negotiation it's definitely more serious. The person that we're dealing with, whether they have mental health issues or maybe they're dealing with an addiction of some form or another, they may not be acting out in their own clean mind but for some other reason. It's super important to remember they are people too and they need help."
Thursday's presentation saw another $2,053 dedicated to the Morden Police Service for training related to de-escalation techniques.
Police Chief Brad Neduzak says the Criminal Property Forfeiture Funding program is critical to police services, particularly those in smaller settings.
"These specialized programs are critical to have in our area and for our services, regionally. It's so important for them to be right here so we have access to them in a crisis situation when somebody needs help. If we have to wait for any period of time, that could be very detrimental to the situation," he explained. "A lot of these programs may not be where they are today or have even existed if it weren't for the help and funding."
Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen made the presentation along with Finance Minister and Morden-Winkler MLA Cameron Friesen.
"This is very specialized work and it takes specific training," said Goertzen, noting de-escalation is one of the learnings in law enforcement over the last few years. "Not necessarily looking to resolve every issue immediately, although sometimes that's necessary, but where you can - where can you have that discussion? Where can you have that negotiation? Where can you try to resolve a situation so that everybody involved is safe? With mental health being more of an understood issue in the last couple of decades, a more recognized issue, that training then follows that recognition."
Cameron Friesen noted, the Criminal Property Forfeiture Program is an incredible initiative that has added value in southern Manitoba. As well, Friesen feels the regional approach to providing specialized law enforcement services is essential.
"Morden, Winkler and Altona are models of how smaller municipal police forces can work together to lever opportunities, to develop capacity and expertise that they wouldn't have invested simply in their own force," he said.
