Edmonton incoming police chief's popular crime-fighting strategy embraced in central Alberta
Andrea Huncar | CBC News | Posted: January 1, 2019 1:00 PM | Last Updated: January 1, 2019
Ponoka is among the latest places to adopt the community safety model after training with Maskwacis RCMP
The town of Ponoka is among the latest Alberta locations to adopt a crime-fighting strategy, pioneered by Edmonton's incoming police chief, that has spread throughout North America.
Under Dale McFee's leadership as chief, the Prince Albert, Sask. police force first launched the Hub model in 2011 to respond to escalating crime and calls for service.
The community safety model has since spread to 140 locations, from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island and Massachusetts, but to only a handful of places in Alberta.
McFee, currently Saskatchewan's deputy minister of policing and corrections, said he will look at the data to see if the model is a fit for Edmonton when he takes up his new role in February.
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A hundred kilometres south, Ponoka has already decided it fits their community. Beth Reitz, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club, said she "pounded the pavement" to rally 30 social service agencies that initiated the Hub in October.
The Ponoka team, which also includes representatives from the school board and government departments, collaborates regularly around a "Hub table" to identify residents at elevated risk of harming themselves or others.
The goal is to connect clients to services within 24 to 48 hours to reduce that risk by addressing social problems such as mental health, addiction, parenting skills, truancy, unemployment, or homelessness.
Information is shared, though some details are withheld to protect privacy.
Reitz said the nature of the Hub table eliminates time wasted during the usual back-and-forth between agencies, who can now solve problems in real time with built-in accountability.
"If you said you're going to do it or you were supposed to do it, you're now sitting in front of 30 people — you've got to do it," said Reitz.
Ponoka's Hub team was trained by Maskwacis RCMP and Samson Cree Nation, which was the first Alberta location to adopt the model in 2012 after a learning expedition to Prince Albert.
Samson Cree Chief Vernon Saddleback said it's among the initiatives improving the well-being of his community, where the number of charges laid, prisoners in custody and on-reserve suicides are all on the decline.
RCMP figures show an 11-per-cent decrease in the severity of crimes in Maskwacis from 2016 to 2017.
The three other Maskwacis bands — Montana, Louis Bull and Ermineskin First Nations — have also received training. So has Wetaskiwin, as well as Enoch Cree Nation, just west of Edmonton.
'No ego in the room'
While the official Hub training costs each community from $15,000 to $45,000, Maskwacis RCMP has developed a local version it offers for free.
Instruction involves sitting in on a Hub table at Samson Cree and speaking to Saddleback.
"He was just incredibly humble, but incredibly passionate about making it work," Reitz said of the chief. "There was no ego in the room. You know it was just a genuine 'let's do what we can to save these people.' "
Among the vast array of academic literature on the Hub, a study in 2016 looked at Samson Cree's experience. The author, Chad Nilson, noted the key to the Hub's success was a "collective will among all partners to do better," and champions like Saddleback to lead the initiative.
The study found that children were going to school more regularly, ambulance and police calls from repeat addresses were down, and probation clients were complying with their orders more often.
Saddleback said he wants Samson to do its part to foster a healthier, safer region, in part by looking out for members of Maskwacis who have moved to nearby communities.
"I want services for them in Wetaskiwin, I want services for them in Ponoka," said Saddleback. "So I'm really glad that Ponoka and Wetaskiwin are opening up their Hub tables too."