London police chief vows crackdown on open drug use: ‘Lot of concern’

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London’s police chief will roll out a new approach to tackle open drug use in the city, saying he’s heard community concern about the escalating problem.

Chief Thai Truong told the police board Wednesday he’s working on a range of measures, including arresting people caught doing illicit drugs in public, as part of his strategy to make the city safer.

“There’s a lot of concern in the community” about public drug use, Truong said. “We know we can’t arrest our way out of this . . . (but) there are times when it is appropriate to make arrests when individuals are openly using dangerous drugs in the community.”

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There will be cases where police make arrests but don’t lay charges, Truong said, calling officers “a pathway to care” for people struggling with addiction.

“We need to make sure that there are resources in place for us to steer these individuals into treatment,” he said. “That is the challenge right now.”

Truong said his plan has the full support of Mayor Josh Morgan, who agreed more needs to be done to curb open drug use.

Calling open drug use a “safety issue” downtown, Morgan said it deters people from coming to the core, hurts businesses and has hampered revitalization efforts.

But the issue isn’t unique to London, Morgan said, adding he has spoken with mayors across Ontario about the problem.

“Solving this issue is critical to our city,” Morgan said. “Having a comprehensive, multi-faceted strategy is critical.”

The opioid crisis gripping Canada has brought drug use out of back alleys and the shadows into parks, playgrounds and entrances to businesses. It’s not uncommon for someone walking or driving through downtown or Old East Village to see people openly smoking or injecting drugs such as fentanyl and methamphetamine.

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Drug paraphernalia is often found in parks, playgrounds and schoolyards and paramedics responding to overdose calls have become a regular sight in parts of the city.

Cities across Canada are taking different approaches to the problem.

Last year, city police in Peterborough, northeast of Toronto, announced a zero-tolerance policy on open drug use. Officers who see or respond to reports of open drug use tell the user to stop and move to a different location and offer information on available resources.

Peterborough Chief Stuart Betts, a former London deputy chief, said at the time the aim wasn’t to treat addicts as criminals.

“The intent is to promote the message that the (police) service is committed to safer public spaces for all residents,” he said. “We will continue to work within a system that supports those whose mandate is the promotion of public health, and while we know it is an imperfect system, public safety cannot wait for perfection.”

In British Columbia, the provincial government backtracked on its drug decriminalization pilot project, asking Ottawa in the spring to once again prohibit possession of illicit drugs in public spaces.

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Truong said he’s studying strategies used across Canada to find the best fit for London.

He said he had no timeline for when his plan would be made public but it is a  priority.

“This is something that requires messaging and communications before we make clear decisions,” Truong said.

Because it’s an operational issue, Truong doesn’t need approval of the police board, the seven-member body overseeing policing in the city.

dcarruthers@postmediacom

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