Winnipeg police call rehab-based drug program in U.S. 'very impressive'
A New England police department is waging a kinder, gentler war on drugs — offering rehab instead of handcuffs to drug addicts in crisis.
It's a provocative new effort that's caught the attention of lawmakers throughout North America, including the Winnipeg Police Service.
"Very impressive," said David Thorne, the Winnipeg Police Service's deputy chief of operations. "Addiction is an illness. Not a crime."
"Angel" assigned to addicts
Last June, the Gloucester Police Department in Massachusetts launched the Gloucester Initiative, including the Angel Program, where addicts could present themselves to any one of their stations, turn in their drugs and be partnered with a volunteer "angel" to help them.
The initiative is the brainchild of Gloucester Police Chief Leonard Campanello, who told the CBC's Information Radio that it was a long overdue shift change in the way they tackle drug addiction.
"We've made a conscious decision here that if an addict presents to the police department, we will not arrest them," Campanello said. "Instead, we will try to facilitate them and fast track them into a treatment program."
Since its inception, more than 110 addicts have approached the police department seeking help — sometimes relapsing weeks later, only to return for help, without fear of reprisal.
"While we're sad that they didn't make it on their first time or their second time, we're happy that they came back to us," Campanello said, "because that means they're not out there for months on the street. They're not out there stealing. They're not out there doing things that make them ashamed of themselves or their family ashamed of them. We want them to come forward again. We understand that that's part of the disease."
Thorne calls it a compassionate approach to policing that the Winnipeg Police Service is already trying to incorporate.
"The one thing that connects us all is our humanness. We all have the capacity to be compassionate," said Thorne. "In some cases, people who have an addiction are ill. In a lot of cases, it can happen to anybody regardless of their situation in life, their demographics. We have good people doing bad things, and they get caught up."
Compassion in policing
It is why, Thorne said, Winnipeg police have already established partnerships with agencies that deal with everything from homelessness to alcohol addiction.
It's also why the compassionate approach goes hand-in-hand when addressing the illegal opiate trade.
As with the rest of Canada, Winnipeg is experiencing an increase in the recreational use of deadly prescription drugs and witnessing the grim results. In the first two weeks of August, police reported two overdoses in the city, one was fatal.
But that doesn't mean the Winnipeg Police Service is ready to fully implement their own version of the Gloucester Police Department's Angel Program.
Not, at least, until a dialogue can be started with partnering agencies, both corporate and humanitarian. And not until resources are committed, both financial and human, to assure its success.
"In other words, if we're going to be on the front end, having people walk into our station like they do in Gloucester, but we don't have the back end, we don't have the resources to support us and to partner with us, then I think we're setting ourselves up for failure," Thorne said.
