A Medicine Hat Police Service vehicle outside the police station on March 24, 2025. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

By Eli J. Ridder

IN THE COMMUNITY

More vulnerable people downtown after Mustard Seed closure, Medicine Hat police chief says

Mar 24, 2025 | 5:45 PM

Medicine Hat police say there’s been an increase in vulnerable people downtown in the weeks since The Mustard Seed’s daytime services location closed.

With that site closed, many of those in need are now only spread out between the Eighth Street Southeast shelter and the city’s core, Chief Alan Murphy told CHAT News on Monday.

“When you go from three locations to two serving the same amount of people, it’s going to look like a bigger group of people being served,” Murphy said.

“When, in fact, it’s largely the same group you’re dealing with.”

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Residents raised concerns over the drug use, prostitution and theft that some Mustard Seed users brought to their neighbourhood by Allowance Avenue Southeast.

The city’s planning authority voted unanimously to deny a development permit, forcing the non-profit to cease its daytime operations at the end of February.

That has left many people without anywhere to go during the day to stay warm, receive essential mail, get health support and access other services they can’t elsewhere.

Chief Alan Murphy says vulnerable people are shifting from being in three places to two. File Photo/CHAT News

Warming weather means that there will be more vulnerable individuals out and about, said the chief.

“We’re coming to the time of year where the weather is better, thankfully, but that means you see more people outside,” Murphy said.

But the chief said the police are ready to handle it.

Extra funding for the Downtown Patrol Unit included in the 2025-26 city budget meant the addition of another officer.

Now, the four-member patrol unit will split shifts so they can be available earlier and later in the day.

The DPU officers are participating in safety training that will allow the unit to expand its coverage with mountain bikes.

Officers have used bikes in the past but the practice stopped around the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

DPU officers will still spend time walking around Medicine Hat’s downtown streets in a way that keeps them accessible to the public when they’re needed.

“That’ll be a really good thing for the downtown patrol unit and being able to deal with the concerns that the community has expressed around social disorder,” Murphy said.

Melissa Mullins, executive director of the Root Cellar Food and Wellness Hub, said Monday her organization’s seen an uptick in vulnerable people using its services.

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READ: Medicine Hat non-profits expecting uptick as Mustard Seed ends day services

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The Salvation Army, too, said in recent weeks it was anticipating an increase as The Mustard Seed leaves a gap in the local social security net.

The police commission meets next on April 16. New DPU data will come forward then and could reveal a wider picture.