With mental health calls on the rise, officials question whether Riverview Hospital should reopen

published on August 10, 2022 by Amy Judd and Jordan Armstrong in Global News

With a rise in seemingly unprovoked assaults and attacks in Metro Vancouver where mental health is a contributing factor, some officials are now questioning if a shuttered facility should be reopened.

In May, Sgt. Steve Addison with the Vancouver Police Department said violent crime in the city increased 7.1 per cent in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Vancouver Police Department data released late last year also showed an average of four people are the victims of random, groundless attacks by strangers every day. Those figures that don’t include barfights, robberies, incidents of road rage or assaults where the individuals are known to each other.

Some of the perpetrators have records of between 200 and 500 previous police interactions.

Of police calls involving a “mental health component,” Chief Const. Howard Chow has also said about 84 per cent involve violence, danger or criminality, and 12 per cent involve weapons…