RCMP to open second location in downtown Moncton

Codiac Regional RCMP will open a second location in downtown Moncton this year to address concerns about public safety and homelessness.

The force's community policing unit will relocate from the RCMP's Main Street detachment to 795 Main St. by the end of June. It's about 500 metres west of the detachment and will be leased for five years.

The second location was among 27 steps recommended in a report last year by a task force on homelessness and public safety by the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton. 

The task force was launched after mounting concerns about panhandling, property crime and people sleeping in business doorways.

Supt. Ron DeSilva, Codiac Regional RCMP's commanding officer, said the location is meant to offer greater police visibility in the core.

"The number one objective is to have presence, to be able to interact with not just the business owners, but the citizens downtown and our homeless population," DeSilva said. 

It also will free up space in the detachment that's now considered too small for the current force. 

The city will also use the space to house its community safety officers who patrol downtown. They patrol the city and enforce municipal bylaws, but don't have the same powers as police officers.

DeSilva said about eight people will work from the office on the police side. The city's community safety officers will be in a separate area from the RCMP.

Earlier this month, councillors were told the space will cost about $131,000 annually, which will come from the Codiac Regional Policing Authority's existing $34.5-million budget.

The CRPA oversees Codiac RCMP, the force that polices Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview. 

The announcement of the new space was made as councillors were given an update on the task force during a committee meeting Monday morning. 

The task force, which included representatives of all three levels of government, downtown businesses and organizations that provide services to homeless people, issued its report in November. 

Among its recommendations were pushing the province to offer a mental health court, providing mental health and addictions supports in homeless shelters, and studying safe drug injection sites. 

"Progress has been made on some," John Wishart, the CEO of the chamber, told councillors Monday. "Some of it major progress, some of it minor progress, a couple might be stalled."

But he said they know there won't be any immediate solutions. 

"We know - the members of the task force - that patience is thin, and frustration is rising," Wishart said. "Especially among downtown residents and business owners who continue to face some of the by-products which may be associated with homelessness, and some which may not be." 

While the provincial budget tabled last month didn't include money for the mental health court, he said he still hopes that will be implemented this year. 

The presentation touched on the impending closure of an out-of-the-cold shelter on Assumption Boulevard this week.

Councillors were told that shelter has generally been working well over the winter, giving homeless people a alternative to the year-round homeless shelters.

Some of the staff who worked at that temporary shelter will move to House of Nazareth, a shelter on Albert Street. It will offer a drop-in space that had been closed during the pandemic. The cost of those additional staff will be covered by the provincial government.

Councillors were told that calls to police downtown were lower during the months the temporary shelter has been open.

RCMP said the force received an average of about 15 calls a month to the Assumption Boulevard location, which had security. That compared to about 34 calls a month to a year-round main shelter, which police didn't name, which didn't have security. 

DeSilva told councillors that a social worker will be hired who will assist with responses to mental health calls. A mobile mental health response unit has existed in the city for several years that can respond with police. 

The city is also looking at a way to offer storage space to homeless people to reduce the use of shopping carts.