Swift Current policing report shows more weapons and drug offences

“A lot of these Mental Health Act calls that we’re receiving are people who are out in the public,” he said. “Some of the persons are transient in nature and they’ve come onto our radar due to their behaviour while they’re moving through our community. So we’re trying to ensure that we’re providing the adequate supports that we can and a lot of those Mental Health Act calls result in us utilizing either the mental health group in town or in the hospital.”

Sgt. Guider referred to the staffing situation at the City detachment during his presentation. He reported that the detachment is currently without a full-time detachment commander, but he is assuming some of those responsibilities until a new commander is appointed.

Staff Sgt. Gary Hodges was the detachment commander until August, when he accepted a new position as a member of the Saskatchewan RCMP South District management team. He is now overseeing the work of all the RCMP detachments in southwest Saskatchewan and his office is located at the Swift Current rural detachment.

The reopening of the schools meant that the City detachment’s school liaison officer, Const. Tony Curti, is back on duty at the high school. He worked as a regular frontline officer at the detachment while the schools were closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Const. Curti was accepted into the national youth officer training program, which is offered by the RCMP National Youth Services. He has successfully completed an online course that covered best practices for youth engagement, mental health, suicide prevention, vaping, dangers of cannabis, child exploitation, and human trafficking.

“He’s now working on implementing a lot of this new knowledge,” Sgt. Guider said. “We’re hoping as well that he could become a bit of a subject matter expert in regards to the dangers of cannabis, not only for youth, but for all individuals who may not be using for lawful purposes. Abuse can come in any form. So that’s one of the things that Tony really wants to strike at the heart of.”