The North Bay Police say there is a small group of North Bay residents who take up a huge amount of police resources.
One example made at the Police Board Meeting Monday morning described one local teenager who has been taken into custody more than 75 times alone in the past five years.
“We are starting to identify situations across the city that require a frequent response by the police and those are taxing to police resources,” said Deputy Chief Scott Tod.
“To attend to the same address or attend to the same person or attend to the same situation that is occurring and it could be an educational institution, it could be an apartment building, it could be a community event, it is the same situations that we know are going to require a police response.”
Tod says an analyst has helped them sift through data that is indicating that police are only able to spend 20 percent of their day on criminal investigations due to the various calls they are summoned to.
“About 80 percent of our work right now involves things other than criminal investigations so it could be bylaw enforcement, it could be mental health calls, it could be a social disorder, it could be traffic but only 20 percent through statistical analysis is truly criminal investigation driven,” Tod notes.
“We are looking at that other 80 percent now, and how can we do a better job on the criminal side is by finding more and better resources for the criminal investigations of any criminal activity within our community, making our community safer."
And dealing with the same individuals so many times can be frustrating for officers.
"The unfortunate part is, often we are the 911 of the problems of the community. So where people want to call for police response to help their son get on the school bus, for example, that may be the extreme case, another is to address an emotional or violent outburst at a residence where they call for a police response and their response is basically to de-escalate the situation due to a lack of parental skills or something else that is missing from the home. So those are some of the things police are often called to. So it is frustrating to our officers," said Tod.
Tod says that’s where the community partners involved in the HUB can help the police.
“The other 80 percent part is joint ownership with other people in the community and other services within the community and that is what we are working on right now,” said Tod.
