Crime & Disorder Near the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre's Supervised Consumption Services (SCS) Facility
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Crime & Disorder near the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre’s Supervised Consumption Services (SCS) Facility 2019 Statistical Overview: Second Quarter Embargoed from release until August 9, 2019 8/6/2019 Calgary Police Service Crime & Disorder near the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre’s Supervised Consumption Services (SCS) Facility EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Calgary Police Service supports the medically endorsed, evidence-based spectrum of treatment and services designed to serve the needs of those with addiction-related issues, and the communities of which they are a part. The Service recognizes that supervised consumption sites are one piece of a broader set of programs, policies, and practices that fall under the umbrella of harm reduction. On January 29, 2019, the Calgary Police Service released the report “Crime & Disorder near the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre’s Supervised Consumption Services (SCS) Facility: 2018 Statistical Overview” which showed an increase in crime and disorder within the area over the three-year average. Since that report, the CPS has made concerted efforts to address crime and disorder issues while continuing to be actively engaged with community and agency partners. The purpose of this report is to provide a statistical overview of reported crime1 and disorder2 for the 2nd quarter (Q2) of 2019 in the 250m study area around the SCS. The analysis includes a comparison of the study area to the Centre City3 and the rest of the city, and a timeline from April 2018 to June 2019. This report should not be used in comparison to the previously released report as the data is cumulative and includes late reporting. Significant police presence has been maintained over Q2, and public and officer generated calls continue to increase (Graph 1). Further analysis has shown that there is a strong relationship between the increased number of unique SCS users4 and both public and officer-generated calls for service (CFS) (Graph 2). It is expected that as new users to the site increase both types of CFS will also increase. 1 Crime includes: Non-Domestic Violence, Break and Enters, Stolen Autos & Theft from Vehicles 2 Disorder includes: Intoxicated person, Disturbance, Indecent Act, Juvenile Complaint, Landlord/Tenant, Mental Health Concern, Neighbour Dispute, Party Complaint, Prowler, Suspicious Person, Threats, Drugs, Noise Complaint, Possible Gunshots, Unwanted Guest, Prostitution, Speeder, Suspicious Auto, Fire, Property Damage, & Abandoned Auto 3 Centre City: Communities of Beltline, Chinatown, Downtown Commercial Core, Downtown East Village, Downtown West End, & Eau Claire. 4 Safeworks Monthly Report – June 2019: Supervised Consumption Services, Alberta Health Services Calgary Police Service 1 Graph 1: Overall Trending Crime, Disorder and Police Generated Calls for Service Graph 2: Comparison of SCS Unique Users and Calls for Service (Public and Officer Generated) Findings also show that percent changes in the study area differ from the Centre City and the rest of Calgary. It is important to note that the volume of occurrences is low in the study area and that any change generates large percentage impacts. The Q2 statistics for the 250m study area show the following: • Increase of 252 calls (40%) in publicly generated CFS when compared to the 3-year Q2 average; • Increase of 80 calls (75%) in CFS to the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre compared to the 3-year Q2 average; Calgary Police Service 2 • Increase of 96 calls (34%) in disorder CFS when compared to the 3-year Q2 average; • Increase of 21 calls (146%) in drug-related CFS when compared to the 3-year Q2 average; • Increase of 1 incident (8%) of violence. A review of all incidents shows a shift from Q1 2019 violence, where most Q2 incidents were assaults with weapons against Sheldon M. Chumir staff and victims immediately outside of the facility. The level of violence has also increased as bear spray, bats, pipes and knives were used; • Decrease of 4 incidents (82%) in break and enter incidents when compared to the 3-year Q2 average. A review of all incidents shows a shift from Q1, where Q2 incidents shows a pattern of almost all incidents relating to secure parkades involving either car prowlings or thefts from storage lockers; • Increase of 7 incidents (33%) in vehicle crime incidents when compared to the 3-year Q2 average. A review of the incidents shows most of these incidents were car prowlings where small items were stolen (acquisitive crime) and limited incidents of vehicle thefts and stolen license plates; • Increase of 725 calls (452%) in police-generated CFS; and, • In Q2 police officers continued to proactively patrol the area logging approximately 2,400 hours. Calgary Police Service 3 Crime & Disorder near the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre’s Supervised Consumption Services (SCS) Facility BACKGROUND The Supervised Consumption Services (SCS) facility is located within the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre. The SCS began operations on October 30, 2017, and since April 30, 2018, has offered services 24 hours, 7 days a week. From October 30, 2017 to June 30, 2019, the SCS had 87,790 client visits5. The most common drug reported for use during visits to the SCS continues to remain crystal methamphetamine (meth) followed by fentanyl. Consistent with usage in the SCS, meth continues to be the most common drug seized by police in Calgary6. METHODOLOGY7 This report focuses on a 250m study area around the SCS and includes CPS data from the dispatch (calls for service) and record management (crime reports) systems. RMS occurrences and calls for service includes data from January 1st, 2015 to June 30th, 2019. The 250m study area was considered a suitable size to control for diffusion of downtown activity unrelated to the safe consumption site being unnecessarily captured within the analysis. 5 Safeworks Monthly Report – June 2019: Supervised Consumption Services, Alberta Health Services 6 Operations across the city targeting drug houses and trafficking impacted our seizure numbers. 7 Only calls for service and Sentry reports with valid xy coordinates were included in this analysis. Web calls are excluded from Disorder and CFS analysis. The 250 metre buffer area was calculated from the xy coordinates of the Sheldon Chumir Health Centre. Location of Interest (LOI) searched for address & common place name permutations of 1213 4 ST & Sheldon Chumir. CAD calls include dispatched addresses and do not necessarily reflect where the incident occurred (for example, incidents that are reported at hospitals but occurred elsewhere). Disorder calls represent a portion of total public-generated call volume. Calgary Police Service 4 PUBLIC-GENERATED CALLS FOR SERVICE There were 883 publicly generated calls for service (CFS) in the study area in Q2, roughly 252 calls (+40%) above the three-year average. The highest volume call types included unwanted guests, suspicious persons, and check on welfare; these types of CFS have not changed across all quarters. An increase of 461 calls was observed in the Centre City (+4%) and the rest of the city recorded approximately a 2% drop from the 3-year average. Public-Generated Calls for Service Q2 Q2 3YR DIFF %DIFF 2019 AVG AVG AVG 250m Study Area 883 631 252 40% Centre City 11570 11109 461 4% Rest of City 89826 91228 -1402 -2% CALLS FOR SERVICE at the SHELDON M. CHUMIR HEALTH CENTRE8 In the second quarter of 2019, there were 186 public-generated calls for service (CFS) to the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre, 80 calls above the three-year average of 106. Check on welfare, unwanted guests, suspicious persons, and disturbance were the highest volume call types accounting for over a third of all public-generated calls. Approximately two thirds of the public-generated calls in Q2 were generated by Alberta Health Services staff or security. 8 Location of Interest (LOI) searched for address & common place name permutations of 1213 4 ST & Sheldon Chumir Calgary Police Service 5 DISORDER Disorder events in the study area increased 34% when compared to the three-year average for the second quarter of the year. Suspicious person, unwanted guest, drugs, and suspicious vehicle calls registered the largest increases from average during the second quarter and account for almost 80% of total disorder in the study area. The highest volume of disorder activity occurred in June. In comparison, the rest of the Centre City’s disorder volume increased 12% while the rest of the city saw a 1% increase. DISORDER Q2 Q2 3YR DIFF %DIFF 2019 AVG AVG AVG 250m Study Area 383 287 96 34% Centre City 4119 3691 428 12% Rest of City 22239 21958 281 1% Calgary Police Service 6 DRUGS9 In the second quarter of 2019, there were 36 public generated drug calls for service, 21 calls above average in the study area. These calls consisted primarily of drug use/possession complaints. The Centre City and the remainder of the city recorded 6% and 21% reductions in public- generated drug calls in the second quarter of 2019. DRUGS Q2 Q2 3YR DIFF %DIFF 2019 AVG AVG AVG 250m Study Area 36 15 21 146% Centre City 136 145 -9 -6% Rest of City 538 676 -138 -21% VIOLENCE10 There were 13 violent occurrences in the study area during the 2nd Quarter, one occurrence above the 3-year average. A review indicates that although most incidents were directly related to the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre, most of these incidents were assault with weapons against staff and immediately in the immediate vicinity of the facility. Weapons included bear spray, pipe, bat, and knives. The Centre City saw an average volume of violent activity while the rest of the City saw a 7% increase. VIOLENCE Q2 Q2 3YR DIFF %DIFF 2019 AVG AVG AVG 250m Study Area 13 12 1 8% Centre City 247 244 3 1% Rest of City 1191 1118 73 7% 9 Drugs includes: Use, Possession, Trafficking, and Found Drugs (excluding mandatory Health Canada reporting to police of drugs found within the SCS facility).