Police commission meeting preview: Peer peacekeeper program, PACT calls up
This month's board of police commissioners meeting will take place on June 16.
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The Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners will hold its monthly meeting on Thursday.
Among the items on the agenda are the development of a peer peacekeeper program, similar to a safety model in use at the Saskatoon Tribal Council-operated emergency wellness centre downtown, and reports from the vulnerable persons and air support units.
No police board meeting will be held in July. A meeting is scheduled for Aug. 18.
PEER PEACEKEEPERS
Saskatoon police hope to develop a program to train and support peer peacekeepers, who would provide site security and intervention for community organizations, according to a new report.
Police contracted Gaudry Consulting Inc. to help develop the program, which is meant to be culturally relevant and reduce calls to police that could be best dealt with by “on-site” resources — in this case, peacekeepers.
The concept is already being used at the Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) emergency wellness centre on First Avenue North.
“The peacekeeper concept is an opportunity to further engage with the STC’s strengths to expand the program and support peacekeepers with sustainable funding and additional training in a culturally-appropriate context,” the report says.
It notes police have available money in the budget to fund the development of the program and deliver orientation and training to interested organizations. The program would employ people with lived experience.
The first phase, which includes consultations, research into similar programs, and recommendations from the consultant for program delivery and structure, is expected to be completed by the end of July.
PACT RESPONDS TO MORE CALLS IN 2021
The Police and Crisis Team, which pairs a police officer and crisis worker from the Saskatoon Crisis and Intervention Service to respond to mental health or addictions calls for service, responded to 20 per cent more calls in 2021 than the year before: 1,894 dispatched calls last year, compared with 1,578 calls in 2020.
A report from the vulnerable persons unit said increases in PACT dispatched call volumes have occurred each month since 2020, with noticeable increases toward the end of last year.
The unit recorded 407 diversions in 2021 — 54 from arrests and 353 from emergency departments.
Last October, a third PACT unit began operating. The crisis worker and police positions in this third team are funded city police. In the two other PACT units, the crisis worker positions are funded by the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the police positions are funded by the province.
The vulnerable persons unit, which primarily works with individuals and families who are at risk, also includes the Saskatoon HUB and Crime Free Multi-housing program.
AIR SUPPORT
The city police air support unit — which operates the police plane — logged more hours in the air last year and was called to assist investigative units more often.
A report from the unit shows it flew 1,189 hours, up from 1,115 hours flown in 2020, and was involved in fewer evade-police incidents — 35 in 2021, compared with 44 the year before.
Fourteen per cent of the flight hours were used to help investigative units, which called on the ASU 82 times last year.
The unit was also responsible for the discovery of 13 fires in 2021.
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