In preparation for a piece I did yesterday on local homelessness, I came across a CBC documentary (PROJECT PURPLE) that outlined the effort being made in the Pembroke area to tackle the homelessness / addiction crisis that has made that Ottawa Valley community a hotspot for drug overdose and all the attending problems associated with dealing with the homeless.
Within that documentary was a clip of Inspector Steph Neufeld, Commander, Ontario Provincial Police Pembroke Detachment. And what he said was like sweet music finally reaching the ears of an audience starved for meaningful and humane action to a crisis that is upon us and may well get worse should we continue to follow the boilerplate responses of the past.
Inspector Neufeld has it completely right on so many points, but what jumped out at me was the profound statement made by a ranking police officer.
“There’s nothing on my belt that will solve addiction. There’s nothing that will solve homelessness. But do we have a part to play to support our members?”
And as he continued, it was clear that the answer was “yes,” and further, that it must be a community effort, involving several agencies working in concert, and in a manner that is novel, innovative, inspired, and effective. In other words, sometimes you have to step beyond the lines, or, if you will, get out of the box. As in, if it ain’t working, fix it.
And by fixing it, we mean taking new approaches that free us from the straight jacket of prior, and often failed models of response.
In my video yesterday, I singled out police as heroes, among many others involved, and I lauded them on the creative and meaningful initiatives that they’ve taken as a response to this very issue, literally a life and death issue, in our communities. And although Inspector Neufeld is a Pembroke officer, I also took note of what was happening right here in Renfrew, most specifically with the Community Network Centre situated on Raglan Street, evidence of our own detachment’s initiative to make a real and meaningful difference, a positive difference, in the lives of people who struggle with the scourges of homelessness and addiction.
Positive, meaningful, and proactive.
Rather than waiting for these people to be the subjects of emergency police and/or paramedic response calls for service, the OPP has seemingly pivoted to an approach that has them preventing the crisis fire from being lit in the first place, rather than scrambling to put it out after the fact.
It’s smart, effective, and far less expensive. Plus, the people needing help don’t view the police as the default enemy or as a threat to them. In short, it puts a much-needed new face on policing, and it’s getting noticed outside our own municipal borders. What we have here in Renfrew, and what they’re doing in Pembroke, is not something necessarily available in other communities. And it makes others from other places wonder why it can’t be done where they live.
I’m proud to live in a community where inspired thinking like this is articulated by the leadership of a critical local agency, in this case police. And if these efforts serve as a beacon of compassionate success to others elsewhere, well that makes me even more proud.
I offer my sincere gratitude for command rank officers, such as Inspector Neufeld, who demonstrate this quality of local leadership. It’s the same gratitude that I extend to officers on the ground who execute this type of policy.
None of this can be taken for granted. It must be recognized and appreciated. And copied elsewhere.
To the OPP in Pembroke and here in Renfrew, well done.
NEWSMAGRENFREW 