St. Thomas Police face rising pressure, on track for ‘record-breaking’ year in calls | CBC News

The St. Thomas Police Service say they’re on track to experiencing a “record-breaking year of incidents” requiring police response  and it’s putting extra pressure on all areas of the city law enforcement agency. 

In the past year, incidents have risen by 11 per cent. In 2022, there were 14,786 incidents recorded by Sept. 14, but this year, that number is already at 16,368. 

In just 24 hours this week, the St. Thomas Police responded to 65 calls, which Police say signals a “substantial increase” in the daily response rate. 

Those aren’t the only numbers that concern Marc Roskamp, Chief of Police for the St Thomas Police Service. 

“There’s other data that that drives the concerns,” he said, adding violent crime is also on the rise. 

According to data from Statistics Canada, the city’s Crime Severity Index, shows double-digit increases in all categories of crime between 2021 and 2022, including a 12.1 per cent increase in violent crime, a 13.1 per cent increase in non-violent crime, which amounts to a 12.8 per cent increase overall. 

St. Thomas has not been immune to the socioeconomic challenges faced throughout Canada and North America, Roskamp said. 

Chief says police must ‘reimagine’ their work

“The anecdotal evidence out there on the street is that our officers are facing a number of pressures and demands that have cropped up over the last several years,” he said, noting homelessness, substance-use disorders and mental health. 

Access to social and health-related services was identified as one of the biggest contributing factors, he said, adding those challenges have pulled officers away from their core functions.

“We need to put teams out there that are very unique and specialized,” he said. They currently have a mobile outreach support team with three clinicians from the Canadian Mental Health Association that can co-respond to calls, allowing police to step back, he said. 

But they need more. “We could use a number of clinicians in excess of those three, and we’re working on that,” Roskamp said. 

“Police services throughout Ontario police leaders are finding ways to reimagine how we are using our operational dollars and find efficiencies within — and how can we best serve the community and ensure that we’re meeting the demands of the community,” she said. 

“We will always respond to help our community and do the right thing. We just need to make sure that we have the right care for the with the right person programs in place for our community.”

Roskamp said the increasing numbers of high-intensity situations is putting increasing strain on frontline officers, making them more vulnerable to increased burnout and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), often referred to in policing circles as occupational stress injuries. 

When officers need to take time off in order to heal from psychological injuries, it can put added pressure on healthy officers, who must make up for the staffing shortages. 

Roskamp said he is currently lobbying for provincial assistance so the city police service can hire more officers to fill gaps left by frontline personnel too traumatized to continue working.