The Moose Jaw Police Service will now be able to better assist people who are dealing with a mental health crisis.

This afternoon, the police service and the Saskatchewan government announced they have implemented PACT (Police and Crisis Team) in the city. PACT is made up of a police officer and a mental health worker who responds to calls involving a mental health crisis.

The teams have been working in the community for about a month. Moose Jaw's police chief said his community does not have a 24/7 mobile crisis unit and now these teams will help fill that gap in the Friendly City.

"Very often, our only resource is to take someone to the hospital which isn’t necessarily all that efficient to process,” said Chief Rick Bourassa. “This will allow for some of those services to be provided directly in the community and reduce the number of hospital visits."

Moose Jaw is now the fourth community in Saskatchewan to have PACT on the police force. The other communities are Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.

The government said in a press release “between April 2017 and June 2018: Saskatoon PACT’s provided 922 interventions and diverted 234 patients from the emergency department. Regina provided 658 interventions and diverted 192 patients from the emergency department.”

In the government’s 2018-19 budget, it spent $980,000 on new PACT programs.

"This is one way to get at the very beginning when the police are responding, that’s the best time to ensure that that person gets the right services to help with their particular issue whether it be mental health or addictions or a combination of both," said Christine Tell, Minister of Corrections and Policing.

The government of Saskatchewan will be introducing the PACT program into other communities in the future.

“Are there other needs or different needs or the same needs in other communities, you know we have to look at the entire province,” said Tell. “It is about the health of a community.”