Supervisor of downtown foot patrol says officers are 'deterring crime and catching criminals'

London's police service opened up a new downtown foot patrol office on Dundas Street last week. The office is home to 22 officers, who were previously housed around the corner in a more hidden office, inside the Covent Garden Market.

London Morning host, Rebecca Zandbergen met up with officer supervisor, Sgt. Mike Pottruff, to find out what the officers hope to achieve in their new location. Here is their conversation.

RZ: Why did you want to move to this space?

MP: This office space is part of the core area action plan by the City of London, so they wanted us to have a footprint on Dundas Place. I'm quite happy that we're here. This way we're way more visible for the foot traffic and we want to be part of the revitalization of Dundas Street and what better way to have an office right here.

RZ: What kinds of changes have you noticed in the area over the years?

MP: Ten years ago, we had not nearly the amount of social problems down here that are probably tied directly back to the mental health, the drug addiction and the homeless problem. It wasn't there. Our major concern back then was Dundas and Richmond. It was a very busy spot. Lots of youth were hanging out there, committing crimes and there was drug dealing. We don't have those problems that are stationed there. It's kind of all along Dundas and certainly the urban camping is something that 10 years ago, we didn't see. Even five years ago, we probably didn't have this much urban camping as we do now.

RZ: Why do you think that is? 

MP: To be honest, I'm not sure what what drives that. I know housing is an issue for a lot of people. I think it's the low barrier housing — and I know the city's working on this — but it's the people, that because of their behaviour, whether due to their mental illness or due to their drug psychosis for example, they go to shelter and they get kicked out of shelter. Rightly so, the shelters have to protect their employees. So they get kicked out of shelters and where else do you now send people that are banned from every shelter in the city? Invariably they end up here. The city is working on getting a low barrier shelter system so those people — barring the worst of the worst — they have a place to to go.

RZ: What is the role of these officers then? If a lot of it is addictions and homelessness issues, what is the role of a police officer in that?

MP: Crime prevention is. You see me wearing my high visibility jacket. We want to be seen out here. Certain evidence-based policing models say that if an officer stays in a certain area for 15 minutes, that will have a crime deterrence factor for approximately three hours. We have several hot spots down here and we want to spend time and hopefully that does drive a decrease in in crime down here.

RZ: Do you just push it somewhere else though?

MP: That could very well happen. But where we're seeing high harm, high incident rates, we want to be there. And is going to drive it out? Sure, but it may, but we may prevent it from happening altogether.

RZ: Some people will say we need more social services down here. Do you think police are really the answer?

MP: I think there's a need for both. I think there's a need for us to to be down here and I would love to have more officers down here. I want people to say, 'Wow, I can see police officers. When I come downtown, I feel safe." In a perfect world, that's what I would love to have. Is there a need for more social services? One hundred per cent there is, absolutely. Sometimes in the middle of night, we're the only people that can respond to someone that's in crisis. I would love to have more.supports down here.