New community support team to patrol downtown
Members will be trained in trauma aid, overdose care, mediation, mental health
In an effort to ensure Regina's downtown is safe and inclusive for everyone, a new team will hit the pavement in June, focused on providing help and access to supports for those in need.
The Community Support Program — currently set up as an 18-month pilot — will see a team of four individuals trained in areas like mediation, mental health, de-escalation, first aid, overdose intervention, trauma support and culturally informed practices. The team will be connected to community service agencies, allowing them to get vulnerable people the help they need.
“The intent is that Regina's Community Support Program will work to connect individuals in need with appropriate services and will work to increase the sense of safety experienced by all who work, live and visit downtown,” said Mike Macnaughton, board chair of the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District (RDBID) during a Wednesday announcement of the program.
At a cost of $267,000, the pilot is funded jointly by the City of Regina, RDBID and the Regina Police Service. The team will be employed by RDBID and will work with downtown visitors, businesses and vulnerable individuals.
The team will work in pairs on year-round, daily foot circuits with hours to vary depending on the season. They will also be able to respond to non-emergent calls for service from the public, businesses and the RPS.
Macnaughton said a range of stakeholders provided guidance to the program, and included city, RDBID and police representatives as well as a community agency representative, an Indigenous elder and “an individual with lived experience.”
The hiring process is currently underway, with the intent for boots to hit the street at the beginning of June.
“I'm confident this project will make a significant difference in facilitating a more accepting and safe environment for all downtown visitors and residents,” Macnaughton said.
Given one role of the team is to help to resolve non-emergent safety and security issues, RPS Chief Evan Bray said this will free up police to focus on emergent events.
“Many of the calls police were handling or are handling are calls that aren't necessarily a police matter,” he said.
“They're calls that can be assisted or more efficiently dealt with by another group, another organization, who's set up, trained and connected to deal with it, and it's a bit of a win-win.”
Bray said police will be involved in training the new team, which will be able to call in police as needed.
He added downtown Saskatoon already has a similar program in place which has met with considerable success. According to 2019 statistics, that program was able to provide a crisis diversion response 69 per cent of the time.
Mayor Sandra Masters said the program will build on work already being done by various agencies
Many of the calls police were handling … are calls that aren't necessarily a police matter.
with an aim of fostering “a stronger sense of well-being in the downtown area.”
“At its core, the Community Support Program is about putting people first, extending help to individuals to find the services and support they need while also supporting our downtown businesses that are less equipped or even unable to provide this help,” she said.
“This is an initiative to meet our community members where they're at and to empower them to access the help that is available. And in doing so, we also aim to foster connection and advance the work of existing community agencies.”
Shawn Fraser, CEO of the John Howard Society of Saskatchewan welcomed the program, saying for a small investment, it's likely to have “big impacts” — including preventing some crime before it happens.