The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has been working towards a different approach to mental health crises, long before calls to defund the police gained greater momentum in the wake of the death of George Floyd in May.

Floyd, a 45-year-old black man, died while a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck. He repeatedly told the officer he could not breathe before he passed away.

The incident sparked widespread protests across the United States and Canada as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, with repeated calls to defund the police.

RNC Chief Joe Boland says the defund movement is not about removing police, but about a different role and response from officers when they’re called to incidents involving a person in crisis.

He says the RNC was already well on that road, with crisis intervention training for officers and the establishment of a Mental Health Crisis unit.