Update provided on safety and well-being plan

BRUCE COUNTY - Alexis Cook, co-ordinator of Grey Bruce Community Safety and Well-Being Planning (CSWBP) committee, presented Bruce County council with an update on what’s happened over the past year, and key priorities for the coming year.

In 2019, the Police Services Act, now called the Community Safety and Policing Act, required every council to prepare and adopt a community safety and well-being plan.

Tina Metcalfe, director of human services for the county, said in her report that “the majority of the municipalities in Bruce and Grey, as well as the organizations who serve them, have come together to create one regional, collaborative CSWBP.”

The CSWBP identified five priority areas for action – housing and homelessness, mental health, addictions and substance abuse, poverty and income, and crime prevention. The idea is to work “upstream” to address risks before they become issues. In addition, CSWBP has a situation table for acutely elevated risk that reduces the investment in incident response.

Update and priorities for 2025

In her presentation, Cook described the focus on “upstream prevention” and the multi-faceted approach that’s been taken. As stated in the slide presentation, “Together, we use research to create solutions focused on education, health care, food, housing, income, crime, and belonging. It is important that we create a welcoming community where problems are solved before they happen and where different professionals and community members come together to help people now and in the future.”

Cook used the now-familiar bull’s-eye graphic to describe how the initiative works. At the centre is incident response – the traditional reactive model. Moving outward are risk intervention (mitigating situations of elevated risk), prevention (proactively reducing identified risks), and social development (promoting and maintaining community safety and well-being).

Action tables have been developed for each of the five priority areas previously described.

The housing and homelessness action table is led by the Homelessness Response Steering Committee, with current initiatives including the development of an encampment referral process, and the by-name referral and prioritization update.

The poverty and income action table is led by the Bruce Grey Poverty Task Force. Initiatives include redesigning the Poverty Task Force website to feature more ways for the public and municipalities to be engaged.

Current initiatives of the mental health action table, led by the Mental Health and Addictions Networking Table, include launching new housing and treatment programs. Cook made note of the Brightshores Health System’s new wellness and recovery centre, a facility dedicated to supporting people with addictions and mental health needs.

The substance use and addictions action table, led by the Community Drug and Alcohol Strategy, has current initiatives that include drafting a new strategic plan.

The crime prevention action table has four priorities – intimate partner and gender-based violence, human trafficking, drug trafficking and road safety.

The situation table for acutely elevated risk (STAR) uses the combined expertise of police, social services and community agencies (35 partners) who work together where there’s an elevate risk of harm. They provide short-term, immediate interventions, within 24 to 72 hours.

Acutely Elevated Risk (AER) is a situation where there’s a high probability of “imminent and significant harm to self or others.”

In 2023, of 29 situations, 25 met AER; 68 per cent had their AER lowered (17 of the 25) and 23 individuals were helped.

To date in 2024, of 12 situations, 10 have met AER. Eight of the 10 closed with 88 per cent AER lowered (seven of the eight situations). Fifty-five individuals were helped, said Cook.

She provided an example of how appropriate and timely intervention results in a better use of resources. She described a client who had called 911 53 times in two and a half months prior to the STAR intervention. Following the intervention, the person called 911 six times in two and a half months. From police responding 53 times and EMS nine times (total cost - $16,618.46), police responded six times and EMS zero times (total cost - $1,410) – fewer calls, reduced strain on emergency services, and improved access to supports and services for the client.

Objectives for 2025 include relaunching the Community Well-Being Survey to measure the five-year outcomes. In addition, the Policing Act requires reviewing and revising the CSWBP.

The committee will continue to explore long-term funding, and pursue additional partnerships with community stakeholders.

Warden Chris Peabody commented, “There’s some really good data in there that we can use with our lower-tier councils, too, to show the value of the program.”

Deputy Warden Luke Charbonneau made special note of the situation study about the 911 calls, and asked if the group would be putting together statistics about the economic savings through all the activities of the CSWBP, and the impact the program is having on crime.

Cook said numbers wouldn’t be available until 2025. However, “for all of the initiatives, we do have measurable outcomes.”

County Coun. Don Murray (Huron-Kinloss) asked about reaching out to the Mennonite community.

Cook described a number of efforts, and said, “That is a priority population for us.”

County Coun. Steve Hammell (Arran-Elderslie) said the example given (with the 911 calls) is “very clear and very powerful,” and asked how that information can be made more readily available to the public.

Cook responded by saying the presentation will be sent out to all the lower tiers.

Peabody thanked Cook, and OPP Insp. Keegan Wilcox, for “sharing their success with us.”

Pauline Kerr, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Walkerton Herald Times