Outreach program reduces police calls

KITCHENER — A pilot outreach program in the downtown area that was started to make connections with marginalized people and reduce police calls has been praised for reducing the number of unwanted calls in half.

The program in downtown Kitchener resulted in police calls for unwanted persons going down from 81 calls during a two-week period before the program started to 37 calls for two weeks in June.

The program, which started in the middle of April, sees 15 people walk in pairs in the core area from Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The pilot, a partnership with the Downtown Business Improvement Area and The Working Centre, was created to address concerns about excessive noise and loitering.

The walkers have street experience and can recognize those who have mental health issues and addictions.

“It was a great program,” said Linda Jutzi, BIA executive director. The BIA had $60,000 to fund the program, which ended

this month. She hopes to restart it in the spring with the help of a provincial grant.

“The credit goes to The Working Centre,” Jutzi said.

“We want people to feel comfortable coming downtown.”

The Downtown Kitchener’s Discovery Team received accolades at a recent Waterloo Regional Police Services Board meeting.

Deputy Chief Kevin Thaler praised Alfred Rempel, one of the team members in the program, who has become a well-known figure downtown, developing relationships with regulars in the core.

“He looks like my dad out there,” Thaler told police board members.

“He knows people and everybody knows him.”

“The impact of the Discovery Team has been significant — creating friendships through conversations and better understanding of each other’s stories, struggles and achievements,” said a report to the board.

Thaler said the program has been effective because the team members have been able to connect with people on a different level than police can.

He said it is common for nuisance-related calls to go up in the summer and instead calls were reduced because of the program.

Thaler said in some cases, police were not called and were unaware of a disturbance because the Discovery Team had dealt with the problem.

Businesses in the downtown could call phone number for the team to respond to situations without police involvement.