LMT_Jan_16_2022_Vol_116_issue_04

14 lmtimes.ca • Last Mountain Times • Monday, December 19, 2022
The Saskatchewan
RCMP Operational
Communication
Centre will
permanently host
psychiatric nurses
Yorkton RCMP seize
illicit drugs
Charge occupants after report of vehicle in ditch
2022-12-22 - The Saskatchewan
RCMP is proud to announce the
permanent addition of registered
psychiatric nurses to its Operational
Communication Centre (OCC)
The nurses provide assistance to 911 callers experiencing
a mental health crisis and to Saskatchewan RCMP
officers responding to scenes of mental health crises.
The program is becoming permanent following the
completion of a 12-month pilot, which generated very
positive results.
During the 12-month pilot:
· 99.8% of callers reporting a mental health crisis
agreed to speak with the nurse.
· 80% of the callers assessed by a nurse immediately
received referrals to be admitted to a mental health and/
or addiction service,
· 71% of the callers assessed by a nurse avoided being
driven by a police officer to an Emergency Department
to get a diagnosis and/or treatment.
One caller stated: “This is the best thing that has ever
happened to me. Thank you for being able to talk to me
and get me help.”
Another said: “I was treated like a person. To have
someone there at the lowest point in my life really made
a difference in how I got through the crisis and how I
feel about the RCMP. Police officers haven’t always been
my best friends, but I understand now they are there to
support me and offer me assistance.”
A responding Saskatchewan RCMP officer said: “It
feels nice to know, when going out on these calls, that we
have someone in our back pocket with the expertise and
knowledge to allow us to provide a valuable service and
referrals for the people we see going through a crisis.”
Another responding Saskatchewan RCMP officer said:
“It is so helpful to have another option besides taking
persons in crisis to cells or hospitals, when neither are
great options most of the time. I am so grateful the
nurses do thorough assessments and put in the supports
right away.”
Two additional registered psychiatric nurses have
been recently added to the program, bringing the total
of registered nurses offering mental health assistance
through the Saskatchewan RCMP OCC to four. The last
of the four nurses completed their third week with the
Saskatchewan RCMP OCC today. The nurses in the Saskatchewan
RCMP OCC are available Monday to Thursday
from noon to midnight as well as Friday, Saturday
and Sunday 24 hours a day.
Jocelyn James, Manager of the Saskatchewan RCMP
Operational Communication Centre, says:
“We are extremely happy to see our project come to
fruition. We worked hard to adapt a European model to
the reality of Saskatchewan’s remote regions, and to develop
processes that allow two very different professions
to work together. It was all well worth it. Today, the four
nurses are fully trained, they have spent the last three
weeks gathering experience and they are ready for the
holiday season – the season during which, unfortunately,
we see an increase in mental health calls every year.
Having personally followed the nurses during the past
year, I know the registered nurses in our Communication
Centre will make a difference in the lives of people
who call this season.”
If you, or someone you know, are currently experiencing
a mental health crisis, please call 911.
The Saskatchewan RCMP thanks the Saskatchewan
Health Authority for providing the permanent funding,
personnel and personnel support for this project.
The Saskatchewan RCMP OCC is the call centre receiving
the 911 calls of residents in need of police service
in small towns and rural areas across Saskatchewan.
Located in Regina, the OCC receives over 350,000 calls
for service from the public per year and as many requests
from the over 800 Saskatchewan RCMP frontline
police officers in more than 115 detachments and units
across Saskatchewan. The OCC provides this assistance
with a staff of between 6 and 12 operators and one nurse
at a time.
January 13, 2023
QUEEN’S JUBILEE - CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1
now would be a good time to go North. I got
sent to Southey,” he laughs. The Bishops were
in Southey for five years, then Fort Quappelle
for three before going to the Migratory Bird
Canada Shipping Act checking boaters in the
summer and migratory bird hunters in the fall.
Winters were spent at Customs and Excise.
He was then transferred to Immigration and
Passport, and was promoted and went to Swift
Current for eight years. He returned to uniform
after Swift Current, moving to Kelvington
before finally returning to Southey for his last
eight years.
Retirement hasn’t slowed down Bishop much.
In addition to serving on the town council,
he was a peer support facilitator for four years
with OSICAN, an organization assisting veterans
and front-line protectors with operational stress
injuries. “In 1985 I was VIP trained so I would
be seconded any time the Royal family came. I
remember we were flown to Birds Hill Park when
the Pope was there.”
“To me, it was very special because right from
1973, I was involved with various visits of the
royal family.” Bishop was involved in visits of
Prince Charles and Prince Andrew. And after he
was trained, he was the motorcade coordinator
for the Queen Mother. “But the most meaningful
part, before I retired was in 2005 the Queen came
to Regina, and I was part of her security detail in
the motorcade. And then, when she was finished
in Regina, they took everybody that was in the
motorcade and we went to Calgary..and we were
her motorcade over there, and that way she would
recognize the same faces.”
People would ask Bishop if he met the Queen
On January 7, 2023, at
approximately 2 p.m.,
Yorkton RCMP received
a report of a vehicle with
two occupants in the ditch along
Highway #10, east of Yorkton.
Officers responded and investigation
determined the vehicle
and the license plate were both
reported as stolen in Regina.
When asked by police, a male
occupant of the vehicle provided
a false name. He and a female
occupant also refused a police
command to exit the vehicle.
Both occupants were arrested.
As part of the ongoing investigation,
officers searched the
vehicle and located the following
illicit substances:
• 42.6 grams of cocaine;
• 32.6 grams of crystal methamphetamine;
• 9.9 grams of fentanyl;
• 720 hydromorphone tablets;
• five grams of liquid concentrate
cannabis; and
• five methylphenidate tablets.
The illicit substances were
seized by police for further investigation.
As a result of the investigation,
25-year-old Crystal
Fox, of Regina is charged with:
One count - resist/obstruct
peace officer, One count Possession
- Schedule I: fentanyl, and,
One count Possession - Schedule
I: opioid.
33-year-old Dustin Rusnack,
of Regina is charged with:
Three counts of resist/obstruct
peace officer, Possession
of a weapon for a dangerous
purpose, Possession of property
obtained by crime under
$5,000; Another count for over
$5,000, Possession for the purpose
of trafficking - Schedule 1:
fentanyl, another for cocaine,
Another for methamphetamine,
and another for opioid.
Rusnack was also ticketed for
having, keeping or consuming
alcohol in a vehicle, and arrested
on warrants from Estevan
Police Service for flight from
police, dangerous operation of
a motor vehicle, and resist/obstruct
peace officer.
As a result of further investigation,
Rusnack was also
charged in relation to a White
Butte RCMP investigation on
January 6, 2023. At approximately
9 a.m. that morning,
White Butte RCMP received a
report of a suspicious vehicle
in Pilot Butte. When the officer
approached it, the male driver
fled at a high rate of speed, colliding
with a police vehicle and
a garbage bin. No injuries were
reported. Rusnack was charged
with: Flight from peace officer,
Rusnack and Fox are scheduled
to appear in Yorkton
Provincial Court on January 13,
2023.
because he was in such close proximity to her, “As
part of her security detail, you are never looking
at her. People would say, ‘oh, have you ever met
her?’ Nope, it’s not my job. Yes we were close,
but we aren’t supposed to look at her. We are not
doing our job if we look to her, we are looking at
the crowd.”
Bishop has received different medals throughout
his career, which he wears to special events
and ceremonies. He will now add the Queen
Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal, which he says he will
wear with pride.