Police reform has been a major point of discussion, and contention, across North America this year. What is your position on the current Saskatoon police budget, and how do you respond to calls that those funds would be more effective if spent elsewhere? (question posed by Alex MacPherson of the StarPhoenix to all mayoral candidates)
My current position on the police force is that I would not touch their budget whatsoever. We still are in a period of escalating crime and that needs to be properly balanced with our policing service. While the fire hall and ambulance services have remote locations to work from around the city to cut response time, the police service have one central location in the entire city. So, as our city keeps growing further and further out with low density, this constantly adds to the struggle police have to be responsive and to cover that entire area. As far as mental health, the police have already created integrated units with mental health professionals accompanying them (PACT). These efforts that are currently underway, need to run their course for awhile before we can determine how much benefit we have seen. I agree that there needs to be a de-escalation in certain circumstances but those circumstances are usually fully developed before the police ever arrive and, as such, the police have to just deal with the state in which things are at when they do arrive. Again, the police are being used as a catchall and this has to stop. There are circumstances where, if caught earlier, some mental health situations could be dealt with outside of police intervention. This needs to be our focus and it would be my focus as Mayor of Saskatoon. It can also be said, though, that some hardened criminals have mental health issues but these mental issues do not excuse their behaviour nor should they warrant them being allowed to freely operate in our society.