The increased police presence in Ottawa’s ByWard Market this summer is pushing more vulnerable people into Centretown and placing “additional pressure” on resources in the neighbourhood, according to the ward councillor.
In an Instagram video posted Monday afternoon, Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster said she met with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe to “demand solutions to the additional pressure that has been placed on Centretown in recent weeks.”
“I had a conversation with him about the impact of increased policing in the ByWard Market and how it has been pushing more vulnerable people into Centretown,” Troster said in the 90 second video.
“It’s been something we’ve all been noticing. There have been more people gathering, using drugs in public and there have been some fights and some aggression happening among people who often don’t have another place to go.”
The Ottawa Police Service opened a police operational hub in the Rideau Centre in late June, and has increased its presence in the ByWard Market and Rideau Street area this summer. Police are also focusing on eight “hot spots” for crime and social disorder as part of the new “community outreach response and engagement strategy.”
But Troster says Ottawa “cannot police our way out of an addiction crisis or a homelessness crisis,” and more social supports are needed in Centretown and across the city.
“I communicated very clearly that it is unacceptable to increase policing in one part of downtown and push people into another,” Troster said, adding Ottawa needs a “sustainable solution and more support.”
“What they need are services, support, 24 hours a day low barrier places to do. We already have the wonderful Centre 507 which is operating 24 hours a day, but it’s completely overwhelmed. And we have the wonderful ANCHOR Program, which is launching Aug. 15 which is the new alternative 24 hour a day crisis support program. But, in the meantime, we need more; we need more outreach help, we need more housing, we need more supports and we need to make it very clear we cannot police our way out of an addiction crisis or a homelessness crisis.”
The Alternate Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) program will launch on Aug. 15, a new 24/7 non-police crisis response team in Centretown. People in Centretown can call 2-1-1 to request a mobile crisis team for themselves or someone else in a mental health or substance use crisis and a team of crisis response workers will respond any time day or night.
“We do want the police to come in the case of a public safety emergency, but we also we want to make sure we have the right resources to help people who are struggling and to make sure that we’re not shuffling them from one neighbourhood to another,” Troster said.
Troster says Sutcliffe took Centretown residents’ concerns “very seriously,” and the councillor is promising to provide an update on the “solutions we’re planning to implement together” at Ottawa City Hall in the future.
With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Ted Raymond