Rhino's Ramblings - This is what the MJPS is up against….
By Robert Thomas Opinion/Commentary
It was a wet and rainy day this past week as the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) postponed their second annual community barbecue but nevertheless went ahead with their meeting of Moose Jaw Police Commissioners.
In many ways the cold and wet weather outside was similar to the past year the MJPS has experienced. It has been a year of drizzling bad news not just on the crime statistic front but internally as well.
Certainly there has been some very bright moments for the MJPS with the introduction of the Police And Crisis Team (PACT). PACT has paired an officer with a mental health worker.
Since its introduction in January PACT has dealt with 252 incidents that did not end up in the police front line and 31 cases which could have ended up with incarceration. By all indicators the program has been a success.
“Police And Crisis Team (PACT) has dealt with 252 cases from its inception in January until July
Out of those 31 were cases which could have led to periods of incarceration ”
It was one thing the MJPS stressed in their public presentation.
Although I personally did not attend the meeting MJ Independent – in our format of having others contribute to our web-site – did in fact have someone who attended the meeting and took notes for us.
What the crime figures show I am honestly going to tell you in no way surprised me, especially when you take a look at all of the warning signs in the community.
Since their release this past Summer the Crime Severity Indexes for crime, non-violent crime and violent crime show a continued upward trend. A trend it seems based in the murky world of narcotics trafficking and the victims it takes through addiction.
Since 2013 the Violent Crime Severity Index has almost doubled.
Moose Jaw Violent Crime Severity Index - source Statistics Canada
Remember the key year of 2014 as something significant happened in the world of crime and narcotics it was the reappearance of Crystal Methamphetamine or Meth in the community.
It is something MJPS chief Rick Bourassa admitted to while delivering the police budget to Budget Committee in early 2018.
“There is also an increase in drug use and we are seeing an increase of crystal methamphetamine we are seeing here, …we have certainly seen an increase of firearms use (in crimes),” Chief Bourassa said at the time.
For their part, the MJPS was doing their best to implement Community Policing by reaching out to disaffected communities and stemming the criminal tide before it became a statistic.
“The objective of the Community Policing is to establish a partnership between police and the communities they serve to ensure effective protection of communities and a better quality of life. Ensuring that the police address the primary needs of the community and are accountable to them.”
How successful that effort is is something we will never know as there are no statistics out there, nor any means to report lives changed for the better and crime avoided.
What the MJPS was trying to do was was not only reach out to communities but help those communities' role models show there is a good life. A better life which is achievable through hard work and determination but not impossible.
As the crime statistics were reported its obvious narcotics have much to do with the rise in criminal crime. And the narcotic of choice is Crystal Methamphetamine or Meth for short.
My own personal experience when I first encountered the living hell called Meth was almost 20 years ago when I was working in Drayton Valley, Alberta.
I remember a shocking story about how the Drayton Valley RCMP had arrested a 12 year old boy who was not only dealing Meth at school but was using violence to intimidate teenagers who were dealing for him or owed him money.
Moose Jaw Non-Violent Crime Index - source Statistics Canada
Even today I find it very hard to believe.
This is where I was introduced into what many called the Meth Triangle. An area that roughly stretches from Edmonton to the west to Whitecourt, Drayton Valley and Breton.
Crystal Meth was literally tearing a major hole in the social fabric of those communities and worse yet it was not in the adult community per say but was entrenched in the teenage crowd.
The adult crowd was into cannabis while crack cocaine was dominating the headlines Meth was reaching its tentacles out and grabbing a stranglehold in the region.
I remember speaking to one parent who told me about one of the local bad kids who had moved to Edmonton and was bringing the stuff back to his children and others. The parents went to the RCMP but seemingly nothing could be done.
Then one afternoon a farmer caught the youth they believed who had brought Meth into the community stealing a quad from his quonset. The response was brutal.
The farmer called the neighbours who decided what to do. Options which included “putting him in a well” but in the end they decided to vent their frustrations by delivering a vicious beating breaking his shoulders.
The RCMP had called to ask what happened and the father had asked the officer what he had heard and the officer replied “nothing.”
The parent replied “Well I guess nothing happened.” The matter was closed.
Despite their vigilante efforts – which I am not condoning or advising anyone to commit – Meth continued to proliferate. The trouble maker never returned but Meth stayed behind and impacted far too many kids seemingly forever destroying lives.
It is why I did the Meth in Moose Jaw series it was because of what I saw in Drayton Valley.
It is also a series where people said I was “alarmist” or I was only “taking part of the facts and twisting them” to gain readership. Ironically those same people now say “it is happening all over not just in Moose Jaw.”
Meth is a drug that can drive a user to seeming madness as they will do anything to get that fix. The urge that a literally re-wiring of their brain is too much to stop. It is a drug which drives a user to do things which seemingly defy sanity.
It is also a drug which can set off paranoia in its users. A paranoia which can erupt into violence.
This is what the MJPS are up against. A tide which continually spills over. You can shore up the dam but by being highly mobile it flows in from elsewhere.
Of course there are other drugs out there driving these statistics. It has even come at Council.
Moose Jaw Crime Severity Index - source Statistics Canada
During the quarterly reports when fire chief Rid Montgomery told Council the majority of hazardous materials calls the department responds to are discarded intravenous needles.
The second time was during debate regarding allowing bicycles and dogs into Crescent Park.
Councillor Chris Warren said more people in the park would deter criminal activity.
The jewel of Moose Jaw it seems has in very small pockets turned into somewhat of a drug haven and other debauchery.
Is the park safe? Yes it is.
This is what the MJPS is up against.
Despite what some might think or write on social media it is not just two individuals out on bicycles coming these petty crimes. Their addictions driving them to do this is just a symptom of what is actually going on.
From MJPS files I obtained through a Freedom of Information request regarding Meth it is obvious it first appeared briefly in 2010 and reappeared in 2014. From there it has accelerated.
I remember writing a column in 2017 about Meth for the now defunct Moose Jaw Times-Herald. It was suppose to be a series of columns but the editor of the day shut it down.
A second follow up column I wrote was about gang activity associated with its proliferation.
It was a column rejected and a story appeared where there was no gang activity involved in narcotics in Moose Jaw. Years later that story has now proven to be false at the time it was written as well as today.
It makes me think about Drayton Valley so long ago and how the proliferation of Meth has precipitated across the Prairies.
The rise in crime is not the only issue the MJPS has had to deal with this year there has been two highly embarrassing as well as highly publicized internal incidents hitting the news.
Not many more details were released as to exactly what was released and to who.
It ended in dismissals but it also in many ways shook confidence in the MJPS. People still would like more details on this story.
But by far the most controversial issue dealt with by the MJPS in at year is the dismissal of Constable Alan Murdoch.
At the time Chief Bourassa could not release information as to exactly what brought about the dismissal. The incidents had happened in the past as well as in the present the Regina Leader-Post reported. But the MJPS did request anybody with additional information to come forward.
It has many people now asking questions exactly what happened and if it all has been swept under the rug.
Personally I do NOT believe this, the MJPS has told the people it serves as many details as they can. There other factors in play such as the new privacy regulations the MJPS must follow.
From my own experiences the MJPS is much more transparent today than decades ago when I worked at the paper but can only legally reveal so much.
It is hard fighting crime when the public perception in many ways goes against you.
This is what the MJPS is up against….