Regina police chief inspired by Boston police tactics used to tackle drug, violence epidemic decades ago

A reverend who did outreach in some Boston neighbourhoods facing a large influx of crime during the crack epidemic of the late '80s and early '90s says he sees a lot of similarities in Regina's North Central.

Rev. Jeffrey Brown and former Boston police superintendent Bob Merner toured the inner city neighbourhood in advance of a town hall hosted by CBC's The Fifth Estate in Regina on Thursday. It examined crime in the Queen City and everything associated with it, including gangs, drugs and violence.

Regina has one of the highest crime rates in Canada, according to Statistics Canada.

Discussions were wide-ranging, including:

• the impacts of colonialism and intergenerational trauma;
• different community programs that are in place to help Regina's most vulnerable people;
• the root causes of crime in Regina;
• what police are doing about the issue. 

Given his past work, Brown wasn't surprised how the evening went.

"You have to talk about those issues," he said. "You can talk about the structural pieces, which is racism and white supremacy and all of those kind of things, but you also have to talk about the cultural phenomena that it produces, because that phenomena is what's killing our young people."

He said it's not a matter of choosing to tackle just the structural issues or just the cultural issues; both need to be addressed hand in hand in order to combat crime effectively, and it has to be done collectively. 

"You can't deal with violence without dealing with the structural issues and you can't deal with the structural issues without dealing with the cultural phenomena of violence," Brown said.

The town hall included a viewing of Ceasefire, a documentary about crime in Boston and the police force's tactics. It worked with local clergy in some of the most troubled neighbourhoods and a reduction in the murder rate followed.

Regina Police Chief Evan Bray, who was a panellist at the event, said that watching Ceasefire was inspirational and lauded the good work done by the City of Boston. He, too, saw a few parallels between Boston and Regina.

Bray said he thinks something like the measures shown in Operation Ceasefire are feasible in Regina and that with the right people in the right places, anything is possible.

"Whether it looks exactly like that, or it's modeled similarly to that, I think it's a great way to start a conversation," Bray said. 

Bray also fielded a wide variety of questions by community members and moderator Duncan McCue. 

In particular, the recent purchase of a new tactical vehicle and the addition of carbines had McCue asking questions. Bray acknowledged that those purchases might not come off as the most community-centric decision, but said police in Regina need to be able to answer every call they receive and need to be able to properly do their jobs to the best of their ability with the best equipment available to them.

McCue also asked Bray why the Regina Police Service does not record the race of people they interact with. 

Bray said the subject is touchy, and that is something that is being talked about and said those aren't easy conversations that people want to have, but said those conversations will keep happening.