Acting Superintendent Cam Lewis gave an update on the Moose Jaw Police Service’s Community Safety Strategy at last week’s board meeting.
He said that 117 properties have signed up for the Trespass Prevention Program, and that police have also recovered and returned 50 shopping carts to local businesses.
Lewis said that the MJPS started a property check initiative early last week. While officers already do regular property checks, this initiative is a measure to coordinate and track efforts.
“Every evening, every quadrant of the city – every corner of the city, if you will - will have some attention to it with a specific, pre-identified location, which would include a park, playground, business, greenspace, school.”
He added that it will allow officers to respond to current trends or issues in certain areas.
With the permanent closure of Riverside Mission in Moose Jaw on Aug. 23, Commissioner Crystal Froese asked if officers have seen any increase in sleeping overnight outdoors, saying there are concerns about people getting frostbite or freezing as temperatures drop.
Lewis said they are monitoring areas that they anticipate people could construct encampments but aren’t seeing any major issues.
Deputy Chief Rick Johns said that they’ve been undertaking checks with drones in wooded or harder-to-reach areas and have not seen encampments. “With, of course, the goal to be getting those people to the resources that they need."
Police Chief Rick Bourassa added that people have the right to be in public places. “One of our significant functions is to protect individual freedoms, and sometimes that runs at odds with what some people would like.”
Bourassa said that people will not be removed for being thought of as ‘undesirable’ if they are lawfully in a location. “We will follow the Charter of Rights and Freedoms at all costs.”
“If there’s unlawful activity, we will deal with that – but most of what we’re talking about is not unlawful activity.”