BC Nurses’ Union faces backlash over police portrayal

NEW WESMINSTER (NEWS 1130) – New Westminster’s police chief says a BC Nurses’ Union ad misrepresents how officers deal with violent patients in hospitals.

The controversy stems from the actions of an officer depicted in the video put out by the union last year.

“The ad is about the lack of safety for nurses and patients in many facilities in our health care system. The ad portrays a very, very busy emergency room where a patient — a fairly aggressive patient — is coming into the emergency room for treatment and is being handed over from a police officer to a nurse,” union president Christine Sorensen explained.

“These ads are based on real experiences”

“Yes, these ads are based on real experiences — not only stories that nurses have reported to me, but certainly documented events through our occupational health and safety reports that nurses have described. So, it isn’t unusual for a patient to come in who has had a period of time that they’ve been upset, fairly aggressive, and are brought into an emergency room by police. That’s not unusual. That happens quite often. Once the patient has calmed down and prepared, the police officer will hand them over to the health care professional to take care of them, as they should do.”

However, in the video, the patient does not appear calm.

“He might have broken his hand,” the actor portraying the police officer says to a female nurse in the ad, with handcuffs in his hand.

“I’ve got to take another call, but you’re going to be okay. Good luck,” he says before walking away with the handcuffs. The man left in the hospital room then kicks the bed aggressively and appears to shout “girl.”

New Westminster Police chief Dave Jones says that’s not an accurate depiction of typical interaction between officers and nurses.

“I don’t see that that’s something that happens,” Jones said.

“Now, could something have happened as a one-off? Potentially. But quite often, the opposite is there. Police officers are called the hospitals to remain with people who could be aggressive or violent and don’t leave. It’s not our role to leave someone who’s a potential risk to others — including staff or other patients — to do that.”

Asked whether any of his officers would have done what was depicted in the video, Jones said, “We’d like to think that they haven’t.”

LISTEN: NEWS 1130’s Tim James speaks with New Westminster Police chief Dave Jones in this week’s Ask The Chief

 

Jones says officers have taken a lot of people to the hospital for their own physical or mental health.

“And perhaps we could have someone whose behaviour changed after we left,” he admitted. “But we’re pretty clear — and I say ‘we’ [meaning] ‘policing’ — to ensure the safety of the staff and people around them.”

“We also have to know why we’re there with that person … If we took a person who is say, under arrest, to the hospital, we wouldn’t be leaving at all … If we’re going to the hospital with somebody who’s been in an altercation are potentially the subject of a complaint or a suspect.”

Jones believes the BC Nurses Union has been raising several issues about their members’ workplace and have been working through them with their union and government. “I think they’re trying to portray what they saw happening in their workplace overall, and this was one way that they saw to perhaps project what their nurses were feeling at times.”

“There are concerns from our members and others who say, ‘We’ve never done that.'”

NEWS 1130 asked what, in his opinion, could have been changed in the ad to make the interaction more accurate. He says with such a short clip, there isn’t much context — such as why the aggressive person is at the hospital or whether they themselves were a victim of a crime.

“You didn’t know that the hospitals have security — emergency rooms have security. I think when you’re going to use another profession as part of your example, you might want to — and we would — look at how to portray them. [We would] involve them and make sure that we were letting them understand what we were trying to portray so we can answer questions and not leave any ambiguity as to what it is.”

The ad in question is one of a series of videos from the BC Nurses’ Union, with the aim of portraying the unions’ concerns about safety on the job.

“This ad is about health care and the violence that nurses and patients and health care professionals face in the health care system,” Sorensen emphasized, adding the union values the police officers.

“They are held up with violent patients in health care facilities many, many times. This takes them away from work in other municipalities … The mayor of, I believe, Coquitlam is concerned about the utilization of police officers in our emergency rooms. This ad is about proper security and safety measures in our health care facilities that should be the responsibility of the health authorities.”

Jones understands the point the union was trying to make, but says some officers have noticed what they feel is an inaccurate portrayal.

“I know that there are concerns from our members and others who say, ‘We’ve never done that. We wouldn’t leave a person who is potentially violent alone with staff there. That’s not appropriate and we would most likely just be coming back.'”

“If you’ve arrested somebody and they’re in your custody and care, you are not leaving the person alone.”

NEWS 1130 asked Jones at what point a call would take priority over the officer staying with the suspect.

“It wouldn’t. The simple fact is it doesn’t,” Jones said. “If you’ve arrested somebody and they’re in your custody and care, you are not leaving the person alone. The way you can leave them is to either place them in a holding facility — a jail — [or] release them on appearance notices or a promise to appear.”

He says if any police agency gets short staffed, officers from another jurisdiction will respond and help out.

“It happens often enough where here in New West, we could have a couple of big incidents tie up our officers. And if an urgent call comes in, we’ve had the assistance of Burnaby or Coquitlam or Surrey or Richmond or Delta to come and help us with another call. So, the resource idea of leaving somebody like that, I don’t see that there’s a time for that.”

Jones notes the force has a good working relationship with the BC Nurses’ Union and has been trying to help alleviate some of their concerns. “They appear to present some valid concerns and perceptions on their part.”

Part-way through the interview, Sorensen asked that her comments be retracted. NEWS 1130 declined.