#RealTimeCrisis Toronto Crisis Team Turns To Social Media To Save Lives by @LiamDevlinCasey @TorontoStar

Story appeared in Toronto Star Monday August 26, 2013 by reporter Liam Casey Thank you to Mark Horvath of InvisiblePeople.tv for inspiring this work. Toronto crisis team turns to social media to save lives. Real Time Crisis uses an innovative suicide intervention strategy — it goes directly, via social media, to people crying out for help. Photo For Online Story On #RealTimeCrisis @RealTimeCrisis Intervention To Save And Improve Lives In Toronto Star Monday August 26, 2013 Edition | photo by Rick Madodnik “Can I help?” Those three words can save lives. In fact, they are the very words that Anne Marie Batten — a Toronto street nurse involved in an innovative suicide intervention strategy — sends out over and over via Twitter as she talks down people in distress, some on the verge of taking their lives. For the past 18 months, Batten and Toronto police Const. Scott Mills have been working on a fledgling non-profit organization to help the mentally ill 24 hours a day on social media. They’ve dubbed it Real Time Crisis. “We’d rather not shoot somebody that’s in crisis,” said Mills. His employer, the Toronto police force, has come under intense scrutiny in recent [...]

CBC Radio: Toronto Police Service @TorontoPolice Social Media Initiative Launch #TPSsmLaunch – @CBCHereAndNow Host @RobinBrownCBC Interviews Cop @GraffitiBMXCop

Click on link here to listen to mp3 file of CBC Radio interview: (if you can't play on your computer, send an e-mail to scotmills@gmail.com to receive the file in another format) CBC Radio with Constable Scott Mills This radio interview was conducted on July 27, 2011 at the CBC Building on Front Street in Toronto with Constable Scott Mills, Toronto Police Social Media Officer and radio talk show host on CBC Here And Now Robin Brown. Constable Tony Vella, Toronto Police Service Media Relations Officer was also present. Special thanks to Robin and her team at CBC Radio for sending along this MP3 clip, and to Robert Cairns ( http://Twitter.com/RobCairns ) for the assistance with Word Press to get the interview posted to be shared with people to engage the message. You can follow the Toronto Police Service officially in social media here: http://Facebook.com/TorontoPolice http://Youtube.com/TorontoPolice http://Twitter.com/TorontoPolice There is a Webdoc that is a place to share any stories or comments you have about the use of Toronto Police Service social media. The link is http://Webdoc.com/GraffitiBMXCop or you can click on the Webdoc Application button on the top left corner of the official Toronto Police Service Facebook page. [...]