Part enforcement, part social work: This Waterloo region police officer forges relationships on the streets

A relatively new branch within the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) is trying to forge relations with people impacted by mental health, homelessness and other issues in an effort to reduce police calls. 

Although WRPS began doing community outreach nearly 20 years ago with one dedicated officer, it has evolved since with their Community Engagement and Wellbeing Branch established over two years ago.

They now have 17 officers, including Const. James Mitchell, a community engagement officer, who took CBC News for a ride along through Kitchener to get a better sense of how it all works.

Const. Mitchell explained that after a patrol officer has responded to a call relating to something like mental health, Mitchell might step in and try "to find out what's involved in that call."

He works to establish relationships with all parties relating to an incident, and get to the root of the issue. He regularly checks in with people living on the street or in encampments. In many cases, he has their cellphone numbers, he knows their family members and has developed relationships that have been nurtured over years of spending time walking the region's streets. 

He says he sees his role as part social work and part law enforcement.

Take a ride with a WRPS community resource officer

4 months ago

Duration 1:04

Waterloo Regional Police Service has been doing community outreach for nearly 20 years. More recently, they created the Community Engagement and Wellbeing Branch with the goal of forming deep relations with people affected by a variety of issues, including mental health and homelessness. By being proactive, the idea is that it will reduce service calls. CBC K-W spent time with Const. James Mitchell who has been with the branch since 2015.

The branch also attempts to find solutions to various issues with one of their many partner organizations like Lutherwood, oneROOF Youth Services and Sanguen Health Centre.

The idea is that when the problem is solved, the calls to the service stop. 

The number one call to WRPS in 2023, according to their annual report, was for "compassionate to locate," which is akin to a wellness check — a non-crime related issue. There were 340 per cent more "compassionate to locate" calls than the second-highest call to service, which was for complaints around bylaws. 

Recently, Const. Mitchell and his team were involved in helping a local man, who has been experiencing homelessness for the last seven years and struggling with his mental health, find a place to live. They worked in collaboration with House of Friendship, The Working Centre, the Region of Waterloo and the City of Kitchener to find this person a spot at the Erbs Road hybrid shelter starting next month.    

Const. Mitchell says he sees this work as "part of the job," but finds it "fulfilling" too. 

"In the end, when you get to that point where they've secured housing and they're no longer calling police, to me that's fulfilling."

Policing as part of the equation

Shannon Down, the executive director of the Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, which had represented residents at the 100 Victoria Street encampment facing eviction during a 2022 hearing, has concerns around surveillance with programs like these. 

She said she worries that it could "subject people experiencing homelessness to maybe a higher level of police surveillance than the average person in the community." 

This could potentially lead to more police scrutiny, she said. There are also questions about what information is being collected and what is done with that information. 

She also doesn't see policing as part of the solution "necessarily" in dealing with or ending chronic homelessness.

"Their involvement typically is more directed towards interactions between people who are experiencing homelessness and the broader community," she said.   

Despite Down's comments, poverty and homeless advocate Joe Mancini, who co-founded The Working Centre — a partner of the branch — sees the resources that policing brings as "crucial" when tackling things like homelessness and mental health. 

"We've had so many success stories of walking with individuals with substantial mental health and addiction issues, and the police have walked with us to support individuals," Mancini told CBC News. 

"It's really more about walking together and trying to do the right thing for an individual," he added.

Freeing police resources

The ultimate goal of the branch is to free WRPS resources, Cst. Mitchell explained. 

"In the end we're hoping that we don't have to go back to that address or deal with that individual because whatever assistance they've needed, they've received … reducing calls to service is priority," he said. 

"Going back to the same location, dealing with the same issues time and time again, it's spending resources that we don't have."