Police commissioners want to know how Saskatoon police are 'filling gaps in the system'

Saskatoon's Board of Police Commissioners has asked the police service to compile a report detailing how it's "filling gaps in the system" by responding to calls outside the realm of public safety.

The ask comes after the board's meeting on Thursday where commissioners discussed more than 60 letters sent to the City of Saskatoon, the majority of which were calling for the service to be defunded.

Conversations about defunding police have been happening across North America in response to the death of George Floyd and other people who have died during interactions with police, like Regis Korchinski-Paquet and Breonna Taylor. 

People have been calling for money allocated to police budgets to be redistributed to things like social programs, mental-health supports and community-organizations. The motion calling for the analysis was tabled by Saskatoon mayor and police commissioner Charlie Clark. 

"People are saying: 'We want to know that when you're dealing with health issues or issues of poverty or social issues, that we're not just using the police to respond to those," he said.

"In my view, right now, in too many cases, the police are filling that gap because we don't have other systems in place to do it." 

Coordinated approach needed

Clark said in order for Saskatoon to make progress on this front, councillors and stakeholders need to have an informed conversation based on the dynamics of the city.

He said an analysis of the police service's response to things like mental health, addictions and family breakdowns, will help form that conversation and identify where support is needed from the province, as it's responsible for the Ministries of Health, Social Services and Justice. 

"We also need to have that coordinated approach with the provincial government," said Clark. "To make sure that we've got the right people available to get to the right call at the right time and reduce the need for police to fill that gap." 

One of the people who signed a letter calling on the city to defund police was Nicole Tainsh.  

"Given the current climate and situations that are happening, not only in the States but in Canada and across the world, we really need to start re-evaluating where we are putting our funding when it comes to supporting our communities," she said. 

Others, like Chad Hammond, also wanted to make their voice heard. In his letter, he asked councillors to take a close look at the organizational culture of the Saskatoon police.

"If there's training on de-escalation, if there's training on being aware of marginalized communities, that's well and good, but I don't think that that translates into organizational culture on its own," he said. "Just because they get that training doesn't mean it then carries forward in everything they do after that training." 

He said officials should be examining day-to-day interactions between officers, superiors and members of the public to ensure the lessons being taught in training are applied across all levels. 

"If they don't embody those values in the way they talk, think and act it's not going to have the same effect. People are going to respond and act more in line with what they see in their everyday work lives, than a particular modular training or a certification program."

Police chief ready to compile report

Following Thursday's meeting, Saskatoon police Chief Troy Cooper said his service is ready and willing to get the report compiled.

"I think the purpose of this request is not so much so that the board can consider it but so we can inform the community and the community can see that we're talking about this sort of work," Cooper said. 

The police chief said the service does this kind of analysis on an ongoing basis but said it's important to have the data compiled in one spot. He said some of the work the service does, like lobbying for a fulsome addictions and drug-enforcement strategy or gang-violence-reduction strategy in the province is not always visible to the public. 

Cooper said the service has also heard from citizens who are concerned if the police service was defunded. 

"They're actually afraid that defunding police discussions might lead to a community that's not as safe as it is right now," he said.

"I just want to reassure them that whatever we do, whatever we talk about and how we include this in our planning, we're going to be very thoughtful and careful about community safety. There's going to be no changes that are going to impact people's safety." 

Cooper said the Saskatoon police are paying close attention to the conversations happening around defunding.

"We understand the principle. We understand the spirit behind defunding police but in Saskatchewan, in Saskatoon, we've taken a lot of measures we're very proud of already to make sure we haven't overstepped our role," he said. "That we don't have police doing things that other agencies should be doing, so these are conversations that are not new to us and they shouldn't be new to us." 

Cooper said whenever the police service discusses its budget or the addition of new resources, they always examine the effect it's going to have on the community but says he realizes the service still has more to do. 

"We absolutely can improve. We absolutely can make changes that make us a better service, but I think we're on the right track here." 

Conversations have been respectful 

The board's vice chair, Carolanne Inglis-Mcquay, said the board regularly gets reports from work the Saskatoon Police Service is doing in the community but she said it will be good to have all the information compiled in one place. 

"This is a real opportunity for us to pull it all together in a cohesive way such that we can undertake what our responsibility is," she said. "Which is to listen to the community, hear what the concerns are, hear what the common sentiments are."

Inglis-Mcquay said she's been pleased with the fact so many people have been taking part in the discussion, as the correspondence to the board from both sides has been respectful. 

"As a citizen of this city, I am so proud of the citizens of Saskatoon for speaking up," she said. "This is one of the notions that we're hearing globally, that it's incumbent upon us all to speak up when we need to make our voices heard." 

The city's police service will be bringing back the report to the Board of Police Commissioners for their Aug. 27 meeting.