Photo courtesy of Colton McKee

By Scott Roblin

Medicine Hat Police

Downtown foot patrol stats confirm successful summer for police

Oct 23, 2019 | 5:41 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The Medicine Hat Police Service is calling this summer’s downtown foot patrol initiative a huge success and the numbers are backing that claim up.

At this month’s Medicine Hat Police Commission meeting, MHPS presented their final numbers of the summer regarding the Priority Street Crimes Unit.

According to S/Sgt. Cory Both, both officers and downtown business owners noticed a major difference by the time October rolled around.

“The numbers were what we expected when we set out,” said Both. “When we pay attention to any one particular area, we usually see a decrease in whatever the problem may be.”

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Four officers were put on patrol throughout the summer, aiming to make contact with citizens and business owners and respond to any loitering or criminal activity in the downtown core.

Overall tickets decreased from 27 between June 5 and July 2 down to four in the span of September 4 to 24, while no charges were laid in the final three weeks of the program.

Fewer citizen and business contacts were also reported as the program went along, with zero arrest warrants needing to be issued over the last five weeks.

“Our statistics across the board decreased,” said Both. “Which included criminal code charges, drug charges, bylaw violations, traffic safety act violations, and warrants executed.”

In all, 2253 citizen and 427 business contacts were made over the summer resulting in 56 tickets and 34 charges.

Statistics aside, police also reported a drop in negative activity in the downtown core and business owners telling them they felt safer as a result.

“The enforcement action is one thing and the stats are one thing,” said Both. “But just being there, it gives peace of mind to the community members and the business owners. And, it lets people that are up to no good know that we are there and to stay out of the way. So, yes our presence was huge.”

This was the first year of the Priority Street Crimes Unit and Both added it’s a proud feeling to see such immediate success.

“It was very much a collaboration between the business owners and the police service,” he said. “They obviously had concerns, business owners and the community groups down there, and we were obliged to go down there and help them out. So, it’s nice to be able to accomplish those results.”

Last month, MHPS confirmed to CHAT News that the downtown foot patrol program would be returning in the summer of 2020.

However, the overall framework of what that program will look like is still up in the air.

“We will have some presence there moving into next year,” said Both. “We’re not entirely sure if it’s going to be exactly the same as this year, but we’re definitely as a service committed to working with our downtown partners.”

This year’s Priority Street Crimes Unit was operational between June 5 and September 24.