London police chief says city will ‘pivot’ as province cuts funding to consumption sites

CTV’s Lauren Stallone with London Police Chief Thai Truong’s reaction to the province pulling funding from the Carepoint supervised drug consumption site.

London Police Service Chief Thai Truong reacted to news from the province that funding will be terminated for seven supervised drug consumption sites, including London’s Carepoint on York Street.

“We’re going to have to just pivot,” said Truong.

The government made the announcement last week.

Truong says while he understands there are some concerns about public safety, his top priority is keeping the streets of London safe.

“I think for us I’m really focused on what we are doing in the opioid crisis,” said Truong.

During the London Police Service Board meeting held last month, officials provided an update on the Open-Air Substance Use Strategy Program, saying there have been “fewer complaints” of open-air drug consumption since the strategy’s implementation in April of last year.

“The average level of agreement with the statement my employees have expressed safety concerns relating to the location of the business dropped from 4.40 to 3.37,” said Sarah Harmer, crime and research supervisor with London Police Service.

When asked how the province’s decision could impact that progress, Truong said, “I think it doesn’t impact us as a police service so we are going to continue with our efforts with enforcement and continue to work with the community and we really need to continue moving forward and look at what is best practices for us.”

The sites affected have been given a 90-day notice by the province and are expected to stop operations by mid June.