Complaints about homeless residents eating up Summerside police resources, council told
CBC
Summerside police and city staff say more officers are needed to address complaints connected to city residents facing addiction and homelessness.
The city estimates there are about 30 people dealing with homelessness in the city, scattered in about 10 active encampments.
Cleaning up those encampments has cost the city about $40,000 since April 1, according to data presented at a regular meeting of council on Tuesday night. Police resources are also being strained by calls related to mental health, responding to more than 600 in 2023, said Summerside Chief Sinclair Walker.
"The significant portion of the well-being calls are related to the unhoused population in Summerside. We anticipate well-being calls for services will drastically increase in 2024," Walker said, during Tuesday's council meeting.
"This year so far we have had 300-plus calls related to loitering, trespassing, encampments."
The problems of homelessness and addiction are intertwined, said Walker.
Some city residents are concerned about loitering impacting local businesses, said city staff. There are safety concerns about discarded needles and some residents are afraid to visit green spaces where encampments may be set up. Police have increased foot patrols in the city, but they are short-staffed and having trouble managing the situation, Walker said.
"We've lost a number of people in the last year or so to other police services and recruitment and retention has become a serious issue," he said.
There is an immediate need for four police officers in the city, he told council.
Some councillors want the province to help foot the bill.
They noted the province funds some Charlottetown police positions. There are provincially-funded officers connected to the Community Outreach Centre, and others have been funded through the mobile mental health program.
"I don't know why we wouldn't be getting at least some of that here since the population is so transient, and they go back and forth between Summerside and Charlottetown so easily," said Coun. Carrie Adams, who also chairs the emergency services and communications committee.
"We're dealing with a lot of the same issues they are dealing with down there [in Charlottetown] and in other communities," Coun. Cory Snow said, adding the province should be funding a community navigator specific to the area.
"We deserve, and I think the population that is struggling deserves, the same resources."
One of the leaders of the team tasked with modernizing Newfoundland and Labrador's education system says she never would have joined if she thought privatization was on the table.
If Tesla owner Dann Kingsley were in the market for a new electric vehicle (EV) today, he says he would strongly consider other brands first.
After a fender-bender before Christmas, 85-year-old Ossie Gildart was told he'd have to take a driver's test. But a surprise was waiting for him when he walked into Service New Brunswick in Bathurst.
One person is dead and another is in critical condition, after a fire broke out in a two-storey building in Montreal's Sud-Ouest borough.
Walmart Canada was recently selling one-litre cartons of milk in Manitoba stores for higher prices than provincial law allows.
Members of CUPE Local 456, which represents city workers in Melville, Sask., have voted in favour of job action due to wage disputes and high employee turnover.
Some schools in Queens and Prince counties are starting one hour later Wednesday due to road conditions following yesterday's storm.
Edmonton's city auditor has made eight recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the city's paratransit service, saying clients who rely on the service will benefit from the changes.
Electric bus manufacturers hit hard by pandemic-era supply chain chaos could soon find themselves pummelled by a trade war.
A workshop will be held Wednesday evening to help give Windsor residents the necessary tools on how to interact with people experiencing homelessness.
Buy Canadian — that's the message being pushed across the country. But on the other end of the movement, some small business owners in Calgary who feel the pressure to pivot to Canadian products say that isn't as easy as it sounds.
Inside a community centre in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley, poster board collages display photos of a young woman with a big smile on her face. She's shown with her arms wrapped around family members, being silly in selfies with friends, standing proud in a high school graduation gown.
As an outreach worker helping people with life-limiting illnesses in Thunder Bay, Ont., Julie Diner says she doesn't spend much time in the office.