Peace River undecided about whether to continue encampment security pilot project

A homeless person is seen in an undated file photo.

Peace River town council is considering the future of a pilot project aimed to address security concerns around homeless encampments.

Serious concerns about encampments in the community, particularly around the riverbank, increased downtown crime and issues with drug use were all among the many reasons the town decided to hire Apex Security to monitor the sites back in July.

“The town has seen that encampments have become fewer permanent structures, and some have been removed,” Mayor Elaine Manzer said, adding that Apex is constantly monitoring the encampments.

“Apex indicated it had dealt with encampments at least 99 times, had interactions with people to move them along, generally patrolled 24 hours per day,” she added.

“Apex noted and reported to town administration that two or three properties that are the sites of many complaints and issues, that the same few individuals are often the source of several interactions per day.”

With the pilot project set to end on Oct. 15, council has reviewed the contract and the three-month cost that was funded. Councillors are hesitant to proceed with another contract due to financial restraints.

“Council has discussed that taking funds from reserves for this unbudgeted expense is not financially responsible as it can directly impact other service levels and long-term plans,” explained Manzer.

“So, at the end of the three months when council has had reports from the last two months of the pilot, council will continue its discussions on public security and how to proceed.”

She says Peace River also pays about $2.2 million for RCMP services and that to add $1 million for other public security would be very difficult for town residents and businesses to digest. As a result of the additional patrolling services they would have other service level reductions, an issue Manzer says council needs to acknowledge.

“We are advocating to the provincial government and as part of that advocacy indicating that we are the only town (that we know of) in Alberta that has a provincial correctional centre that does release people into our community,” she noted.

“Dealing with houselessness concerns is one thing but in Peace River, the issue is complicated and compounded by people being released from the centre without a place to stay.”

Manzer says that two months into the pilot project residents and business owners are generally pleased with the security provided by Apex.

However, according to RCMP reports there has not been a reduction in crime and other problems since the start of the pilot project.

“There has perhaps been a reduction in loitering at business doorways,” Manzer said.

“The town has cut some trees along the dike pathways and cleared some underbrush which has also made the riverbank area more visible and that seems to have helped with some of the security issues.

As well, Apex has been a very visible presence with the uniformed staff, vehicles and recently presence on bicycles,” she added.

Manzer notes council had hoped this pilot project would help to eliminate peoples’ fears about safety and security in the downtown area.