Kingston Police Service Board to receive reports on increased mental health calls, staff recruitment

At its upcoming meeting, the Kingston Police Service Board will hear that the number of mental health calls responded to by Kingston Police in August 2026 was up nearly 13 per cent from the previous month. A separate human resources report will also update the board on Kingston Police's recruitment efforts, including 10 acceptances received from sworn officers who were offered positions on the service.

The figures, in the form of separate mental health and human resources reports, will be presented to the Police Service Board on Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, at 10 a.m. The meeting was rescheduled from Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. The board did not hold a regular meeting in August, so the July and August reports are being presented together as information items.

Mental health calls

Police responded to 115 mental health-related calls service in August, compared with 102 in July — an increase of 13 calls, or approximately 12.7 per cent.

The average number of calls per day rose from three in July to four in August, while the highest number recorded on a single day of the month increased from six in July to seven in August.

Despite the higher call volume, the average hospital wait time associated with mental health apprehensions declined slightly.

Officers waited an average of one hour and 50 minutes at hospitals in August, compared with two hours in July, according to the report. Some individual waits remained considerably longer, however.

The longest reported hospital wait in August was five hours and 19 minutes. Other lengthy waits included four hours and 37 minutes, four hours and 29 minutes, four hours and 21 minutes, and three hours and 56 minutes. In July, the longest reported wait was four hours and 35 minutes.

For Kingston Police, the monthly mental health call reports are a means of monitoring progress toward its strategic priority of making transfers of “non-criminal, low-risk cases” faster and more frequent. The reports track mental health calls as well as hospital wait times associated with apprehensions.

Human resources

Separately, the Police Service Board will receive an update showing increased recruitment activity as Kingston Police continues efforts to build its staffing complement.

Ten prospective sworn officers accepted employment offers during August, along with one civilian candidate. That brought the number of accepted sworn offers so far in 2026 to 22.

By the end of August, the accepted offers had not yet translated into a larger complement of sworn officers.

No sworn officers joined Kingston Police during the month, and the service continued to report 241 sworn resources, unchanged from July and four more than the 237 recorded in January.

Civilian staffing increased by one between July and August, from 122 to 123. Overall, Kingston Police reported 364 members at the end of August — 241 sworn and 123 civilian — compared with 350 at the beginning of the year.

Seven members were also listed as being on secondment or assigned to joint force operations.

The August human resources report recorded two resignations and two retirements, bringing year-to-date totals to 11 resignations and seven retirements.

Kingston Police also had eight active external competitions underway, for both new recruits and experienced constables as well as for several civilian positions.

The staffing update follows Kingston Police's recent budget presentation to City Council.

As previously reported by Kingstonist, Kingston Police project the force will finish 2026 within its approved $57.3-million operating budget despite financial pressures, including Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) costs, employee absences, and other expenses.

Part of the service’s favourable financial position has resulted from vacancies and the timing of hiring.

The 2026 budget includes funding for 10 additional sworn officers, but those positions were budgeted for only the final four months of the year, with hiring anticipated to begin in September.

During a Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, presentation to Council, Chief Adam MacIntosh said those additional positions had not yet been filled. He said two recruits were then expected to graduate from the Ontario Police College, followed by a cohort of seven and another group afterward.

“So right now those dollars are allocated to us, but we’re not spending them because the positions aren’t yet filled,” MacIntosh told Council at the time.

The August human resources report does not specify whether the 10 sworn candidates who accepted offers that month correspond directly with the 10 additional positions funded through the 2026 budget, or when those candidates are expected to begin work.

Recruitment also appears elsewhere on the Police Service Board agenda.

The Board is being asked to appoint new recruits Austin Gill and Luke Murray, contingent upon each obtaining an Ontario Police College Basic Constable Training Certificate.

Board members will also be asked to ratify the appointments of experienced officers Ryan Dempster, Scott Newby, and Jacob Veenstra. A quorum of board members previously approved these officers' appointments by poll on September 3, pending the next scheduled public meeting.

The Kingston Police Service Board meets regularly on the fourth Thursday of each month (unless stated otherwise in the agenda, as is the case for this October 1 meeting), beginning at 12 noon in the William Hackett Boardroom at Kingston Police Headquarters, 705 Division Street.