Edmonton police hope crime prevention helps ease resource crunch

Edmonton police can no longer afford to act as social workers, according to Chief Rod Knecht, who said the force "has hit a wall" when it comes to paying for all the services it provides.

"I think historically we said 'we'll take that on, we'll do it,' without realizing that we're slowly eating away at our resource base," he said.

Knecht said police often respond to situations involving addictions, suicide, mental health and homelessness at night and on weekends, when other agencies are closed.

"I think for 10, 15, 20 years we've taken stuff on, and we've got to start pushing back and saying, 'Actually, that's not our job, that's not our business.' "

Mayor Don Iveson agreed the amount of resources police need to deal with those problems are unsustainable.

"Poverty and homelessness are basically criminalized in the city right now," Iveson said.

He would like to see police refocus on prevention, and create more partnerships with external agencies.

He's optimistic the new NDP government will invest in programs that reduce poverty and addictions to lessen officers' workload.

"The chief has got some good ideas about prevention that we can bring to the province as potential quick wins," he said.

One idea they hope to pitch to Rachel Notley's government is a wellness centre for people with addictions, to keep people out of police holding cells and emergency rooms.

"It should save them money right away in healthcare, and save us money right away in policing," Iveson said.

The mayor is calling for police to find more efficiencies within the service as well, but Knecht said the police department has no moreefficiencies to find.

"If we do a better job of working with the homeless, the mentally ill and the addicted, that takes a load off our shoulders," he said.

Edmonton police plan to ask for more than 300 new officers over the next three years to deal the influx of people to the city, and the city's plan to annex land between Edmonton and the airport.

"If we take that huge parcel of land with the highway being as busy as it is, the airport, that big mall going in there, we're going to need resources to police that," Knecht said.

He said if the city's crime prevention strategies are successful, the force should be caught up and won't need to make any more "big asks" for money to pay for more officers after that.