Extra police patrols no fix, council told

Crime and drug use in downtown Kelowna has triggered the deployment of extra police resources, city council heard Monday.

But a “more physical and visible police presence” alone won’t solve serious social problems, RCMP Supt. Brent Mundle cautioned.

“We have seen an increase in drug activity in the downtown area,” he told council. “(But) I don’t see us solving it from a police perspective. We’re dealing with the same individuals with the same addictions day after day.

“Police itself is not going to eradicate, or change, what we’re seeing currently,” Mundle said.

Since the spring, calls about open drug use and other types of crime in the downtown area have risen considerably, council heard from Mundle.

In response, police have increased foot and bike patrols, and encouraged members in patrol cars to cruise the downtown more often, he said.

“We’ve stepped up our enforcement efforts in a number of areas.”

Nevertheless, the problem of drug use presents a difficult challenge that is not easily solved, Mundle said. For example, users may quickly consume drugs upon seeing police approach, making arrests and investigations difficult.

As well, simply detaining people temporarily likely doesn’t address the “root causes” of their drug use, Mundle said. Police try to link up drug users with the social and medical services that may be of benefit to them, he said.

Police have recently made sizeable drug seizures among higher-level traffickers, Mundle said, in hopes that will stem the flow of drugs such as methamphetamines, fentanyl and cocaine reaching the street population.

Across Kelowna, there were 29,867 calls for police services from January through May, up almost five per cent from the same period last year.

Coun. Brad Sieben expressed frustration with what he said was the increasingly public use of illegal drugs.

“The open and overt use of drugs, what used to happen in back alleys, seems to be happening in parks and bus loops,” Sieben said. “There’s less effort to hide that behaviour.”

For his part, Mayor Colin Basran said: “I think we all know that it’s going to be a challenging summer. There isn’t one simple solution to the issue we all in the community are dealing with. We know that enforcement alone is not going to fix this.”