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.

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