Lethbridge City Hall. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

First responders strained from drug crisis, ARCHES says SCS has not impacted crime

Nov 4, 2019 | 5:44 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge City Council heard from several community experts on opioid use, and how various groups are responding to it.

This includes presentations from Lethbridge Police Service (LPS), Lethbridge Fire & Emergency Services, Alberta Health Services, and ARCHES, the group who operates the city’s Supervised Consumption Site (SCS).

Kelly L’Hirondelle, Deputy Chief of Lethbridge Fire & Emergency Services, reports that medical incidents that required their responses grew by 37.7% from 2009-2019, while those needing a fire apparatus increased by 36% in that same time.

Calls for service involving fire apparatus’ in Lethbridge. (Supplied by City of Lethbridge)

Medical calls for service in Lethbridge. (Supplied by City of Lethbridge)

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He says much of that comes from the rising tide of drug use in the community.

“It’s not something that’s new today – it’s something we’ve seen increase over the last few years. The realization is that it does take an effect on our responders in a personal way as far as mental health and making sure they’re healthy.”

In recent years, he explains that some first responders have suffered from “compassion fatigue” in dealing with increasingly violent or aggressive patients. “At least one” paramedic has been assaulted by someone they were trying to help.

L’Hirondelle adds that it has been a struggle to help those out who are dealing with overdoses and still provide an adequate level of care to the rest of Lethbridge.

The Deputy Chief requested one more full-time ambulance that operates 24/7.

Staff Sgt. Jason Walper with LPS says they have seen a steady increase in the use of meth in public places, which results in a variety of disturbance, intoxication, and public nuisance complaints, as well as more incidents of theft and shoplifting.

“Methamphetamine use creates erratic behaviour and sometimes violent behaviour. Certainly, if those individuals are leaving the Supervised Consumption Site and leaving into the community while they’re still under the effects of those types of drugs, it does create a risk for those in the community, it creates a risk for police and other first responders that’re having to deal with these individuals.”

Like with Fire & EMS, Walper believes the city needs more resources for policing.

In recent years, The Watch and Community Peace Officers have helped to bolster the efforts of the Downtown Policing Unit.

A business case has been prepared for a Safe Communities and Neighbourhoods Unit (SCAN) to the provincial government, and the City of Lethbridge has expressed support for a dedicated crown prosecutor.

Heather Loewen, the Manager of Prevention and Knowledge Translation with ARCHES, reports that 248,012 people used Lethbridge’s SCS from January 1st, 2018 to June 30th, 2019. This is more than the SCS’s in Calgary, Edmonton, and Grande Prairie combined.

The number of visits to Alberta’s Supervised Consumption Sites. (Supplied by Alberta Health)

Loewen told council that the reasons Lethbridge’s SCS is so much busier come down to it being open 24/7, Lethbridge being geographically smaller than Calgary and Edmonton, users feeling safe and supported, and it being the only SCS in North America that offers inhalation services.

From February 28th, 2018 to September 30th, 2019, 1,470 unique visitors went to Lethbridge’s site, making for a total of 307,776 visits. Of those, 56.7% were looking to consume opioids and 42.5% were there to use methamphetamine.

Loewen’s report indicated that 88% of people who go to the SCS have accessed at least one of their 16 other services, which includes integrated court services, nursing, counselling, HIV/ Hep C supports, recovery coaching, housing first and intensive case management, meaningful daily activity, education, naloxone, onsite cultural programming, Queer Health and VODP.

Loewen declined to do an interview with media following her presentation. In her place was Stacey Bourque, the Executive Director of ARCHES.

LNN asked Bourque how many people who accessed the SCS’s other services have gotten clean and managed to stay clean.

She would only say that all of the people who accessed rehabilitative services at least 10 times are now sober.

We later asked her if she believed Lethbridge’s Supervised Consumption Site has had any direct impacts on crime.

“Between 2013 and 2014, there was a 24% increase in crime. Between 2013 and 2017, there was a 76% increase in crime, all well before the SCS opened. In the year the SCS opened, the increase in the Crime Severity Index actually decreased from the year before. It was almost 16% in 2017 and it was just over 13% in 2018…”

“…At the end of the day, if people don’t want to believe the stats, especially statistics that are not coming out of ARCHES, then, I mean, they’re looking at this from an ideological perspective and there’s really nothing we can do to change their mind.”

The 2018 Crime Severity Index that Bourque was referring to placed Lethbridge above all other municipalities in Canada. More details here.

As well, LPS reported in September that overall calls for service became drastically centralized to the areas immediately surrounding the SCS. In the few blocks surrounding the site, calls for service increased by 5,957% in the year after the SCS opened, while for the area that includes downtown and part of the north side, calls for service increased by 253%. More details here.

It is important to note that calls for service do not necessarily equate to crime – rather, for any reason that first responders might be called to attend something.