City councillors debated problems facing the city centre on Monday night, with several saying they support stronger police presence to address reports of unruly behaviour in the downtown core.--News Photo Collin Gallant
cgallant@medicinehatnews.com@CollinGallant
City council members aren’t yet sure what, but vow something should be done about vagrancy, drug activity and bizarre behaviour in the city’s downtown.
Coun. Phil Turnbull brought up the topic as the police commission minutes were presented at Monday night’s council meeting.
They showed police were increasingly responding to the city centre to investigate damage to businesses and assist paramedics who responded to calls reporting mental health issues and a temporary shelter set up there this winter.
Turnbull says it’s time for council to act to protect the reputation of downtown that is key to existing businesses as well as city plans to back a new waterfront development there.
“There’s something that we need to do to ensure that people aren’t sleeping in doorways of downtown businesses,” said Turnbull, adding he felt uncomfortable using the term “harsher” police response in the area.
“We have a lot of programs to help people, but we can’t allow 20 or 30 people to destroy our downtown,” he said. “Sometimes we have to have the courage to do what we need to do.”
Redeveloping downtown and boosting its profile as a business district has been the goal of City Hall for decades, ever since shopping malls in the south end of town began drawing customers away in the 1980s.
More recently though, the downtown has become a focus of controversy and increasingly disruptive behaviour.
Last year the Medicine Hat Police Service extended year-round a downtown foot patrol to address the problem and boost visibility in the district.
Turnbull and others in the discussion on Monday said more money for more officers might be needed.
Others however, said a larger discussion about the problems of transient and other disruptive populations is needed, and adding police is not a surefire way to solve the problems.
Coun. Kris Samraj says he has taken special interest in the issues, and since the problems aren’t clear cut, and much of what citizens see as troubling behaviour isn’t technically crime.
“Police do a great job, but are not designed to respond to mental health calls,” he said, noting he would like better reporting of concerning activity, but calling in the police is not a catch-all answer.
“What we need is a mobile response health unit that can respond downtown, especially during business hours … Someone yelling at themselves isn’t criminal, and you can’t keep fining people for money they don’t have.”
More recently some business owners have been critical about the conglomerating support services in the centre of the city, leading to certain people to spend time in core, loiter and commit mischief.
“If needed we can redeploy resources (for the downtown foot patrol unit), but don’t see the need right now,” said Coun. Julie Friesen, a police commission member. “We’ve had good response and some good things happen, but this doesn’t happen overnight. Calls for mental health continue to escalate.”
Police chief Mike Worden told the News on Tuesday that his team is tracking criminal activity in the core and addressing problems.
“We know the project has had an impact and we can direct more resources there if needed,” he said. “This is a question for police organizations all over the world: who is most appropriate to respond to calls (of mental health issues).”
Mayor Ted Clugston told reporters council would likely back additional money for policing.
“It’s not just homelessness, many of these people have a place to sleep that’s not a shelter,” he said. “A lot of it is drugs and alcohol, and it’s bubbling up everywhere (across Canada).”
Years ago the city launched a high profile campaign to end homelessness, but defined as anyone willing to accept aid would be offered subsidized housing and access to social programs.
Advocates note there remains some who decline help, face addiction or mental health issues and continue to “sleep rough” in the community or natural areas.
Connecting people with resources has become more difficult, say some social agencies, because of the pandemic and harder economic times.
In February, the City Centre Development Agency and several business owners successfully appealed the creation of a daylight shelter to provide warm space for overnight shelter users during the winter
A new location for the day shelter, operated by McMan Youth Family and Community Services on North Railway Street, will be discussed at today’s meeting of the municipal planning commission.
Coun. Darren Hirsch told council that as a person who works downtown, he sympathizes with business owners as well as social advocates, and council needs to support finding a solution.
