The Medicine Hat Police Commission resumed regular meetings Wednesday following summer break, as the local call centre and its members were praised for their important role in keeping the community safe.--NEWS FILE PHOTO
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Roles of the city’s emergency call centre and dispatchers were highlighted Wednesday at the Medicine Hat Police Commission’s first public meeting since May
Following a report on two high-profile arrests made during the month of August provided to commissioners by Insp. Jason Graham, Coun. Robert Dumanowski brought up the call centre’s role in handling hundreds of citizen contacts each month.
“Certainly we all know that there are hundreds of different types of responses that our call centre and our walk-in service members and civilian members are with,” said Dumanowski. “It inevitably takes those calls that might otherwise be routed through a normal patrol unit off the workforce.”
Dumanowski inquired about the value the local call centre brings to the police service.
“It does take a considerable amount of workload off of our patrol level but just taking statements, initiating things, answering questions,” said Graham. “Even people call in wanting (answers to) questions. Normally, that would have gone to a patrol officer in a car, and now we have somebody that can actually take that call, triage it and phone them back and provide them what they need.”
Graham says the implementation of the local call centre was a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, however it has “morphed and increased” in its effectiveness over the last several years.
“I can tell you that the call centre helps the patrol teams, just like the patrol teams help them. So if there is stress on the streets, as far as calls to be taken, they can direct people to the call centre to help out, whether it’s to take a statement, initiate the report and vice versa.” said Graham.
Last month the centre handled more than 2,000 inquiries and calls including 78 criminal charge sign-ins, 165 required reports generated by officers, 28 SORCA/ARTO and warrant executions, as well as 799 citizen contacts and 478 walk-ins for reception.
Commissioners also heard from police that fentanyl and methamphetamine use has become the predominant illicit drug for users in Medicine Hat, according to Graham.
“I would say, probably five years (ago) where cocaine, crack cocaine, was predominantly the drug of choice on the streets, it has now switched to fentanyl and methamphetamine.”
According to the police chief report, calls for service increased slightly in August over July at 2,973 from 2,891, however mental health related calls dropped to 81 in August, compared to 121 in July.
Calls including fraud, mischief, shoplifting and theft from a motor vehicle dropped in August compared to July, however theft calls increased slightly.
The downtown patrol unit responded to 100 calls in August, down from 107 in July. Ten calls were property based, six were drug or alcohol related, 10 for suspicious activity and 40 for an unwanted guest.
Motorists in the Hat remained sober behind the wheel throughout August as the traffic unit issued zero roadside sanctions, suspended licences, or failed field sobriety testing.
The municipal enforcement section responded to 1,100 total calls in August, including 147 related to encampments, 163 related to road safety, 169 related to animal control and 298 initiated by officers.
The Victims Assistance Unit handled 326 community referrals last month as they are currently working on 664 open active files as of Aug. 31.
In October the second police training recruit class in 2025 will begin with seven MHPS recruits, one Blood Tribe Service Recruit and two police service recruits with Canadian Pacific Kansas City.
