‘Increasing exponentially:’ Cooper calls for strategy to address homelessness, addictions

Saskatoon’s top cop said police on their own can’t handle or solve the problems the city is facing when it comes to homelessness, addictions and mental health.

At a panel discussion hosted by the Chamber of Commerce in Saskatoon on Tuesday, police chief Troy Cooper said those concerns have become more apparent in the city recently, and will require a strategy including both local and provincial partners.

“Individual organizations like my own are ineffective in trying to tackle some of the issues we’re seeing in Saskatoon,” Cooper said.

He said Saskatoon police have already responded to 1,600 calls about suspicious people this year. He also commented on one individual who has been the source of a complaint, a suspect or accused of criminal behavior 93 times this year alone.

“I think he’s representative of a group of people that have complex needs that might refuse services,” Cooper said.

As a result of the growing difficulties in Saskatoon, Cooper said there has been an increase in property crime and some violent crime, which he attributed directly to addictions.

Calls to police about suspicious persons and disturbances, as well as non-criminal calls that have to do with homelessness, addictions and mental health, are “increasing exponentially,” Cooper shared.

That rise comes alongside the increase in people without housing and those living with complex needs, Cooper said. That requires significant support from police in tandem with community partners.

People living with issues around addictions and mental health — especially those who don’t have housing — require significant resources, Cooper said. To help people in those situations, he said a person can’t simply be given a place to live if they’re to be successful on their own; Cooper said a strategy is required.

Cooper said the police resources required to respond to countless suspicious person calls — only for officers to arrive and encounter a non-criminal situation, like a person trying to stay warm in the foyer of a hotel or causing a disruption at a business — are immense.

“Those folks end up in custody or in contact with police when there isn’t somewhere else to go,” Cooper said. “These are issues that are not necessarily criminal, but there’s no other response for them and often nowhere to take them to.”

Challenges for police include finding enough resources and ensuring officers respond to situations appropriately, which means knowing how to separate health and addictions issues from issues of policing and justice, the chief noted.

Cooper said the lack of a lasting recourse for individuals police are regularly encountering weighs on him.

He said low level crimes being committed by people with complex needs – who are then released quickly after being caught and charged – simply puts people back in the community they were in before, with the same challenges they were already facing.

“Just using traditional enforcement hasn’t changed the behaviour,” Cooper said.