In the face of economic adversity, there’s always the potential for increased crime activity in the community, but Estevan police Chief Paul Ladouceur said that is not the case in the Energy City.
Aside from a slight increase in crime, which according to Ladouceur, could also be attributed to the emergence of warmer weather, a common time of the year for a small spike to occur, EPS is not on a high alert.
The police Chief said, however, that doesn’t minimize the personal problems individuals may face during the financial crunch that’s widespread across southeast Saskatchewan.
“There is a coalition that occurs between the decline in the economy and crime,” he stated. “Obviously when there’s a downturn in the economy we look at substance abuse going up and domestic situations increasing due to turbulence in the household.”
Ladouceur noted “spinoff” crimes (crimes that lead to other crimes) are common during times of financial stress, and they often stem from situations where a drug user is unable to pay his or her supplier, and therefore must resort to more criminal activity to make quick money.
“That person may have to weigh the options and ask ‘what’s better? Is it better that I do a break and enter or broken legs?’ It can be a harsh reality,” Ladouceur said. “But it’s not fair to say that everyone who gets laid off turns to crime.”
For the past several weeks, the EPS drug intelligence unit has been operating “very well,” according to Ladouceur, and has alleviated some of the workload the criminal investigations unit has been dealing with.
In addition to the drug intelligence unit, candidates for the city’s new containment warrant entry team (CWET) are undergoing their final firearms training in Regina.
The final roster will be selected sometime in June.
The team will consist of officers with a high level of physical fitness that will have access to specialized equipment like new breaching tools, thicker bulletproof vests and heavier ammunition. CWET will be used in a variety of situations, but not as an outfit to intimidate anyone, Ladouceur stressed.
“It’s simply designed to increase public safety,” he said. “If we have a major incident we have to react accordingly and deal with it.
“It will act like an insurance policy. You hope you don’t have to use it, but you’ll be glad you have it.”
Ladouceur noted the strong interest among members of the EPS during the initial announcement of the project, and said he is “very impressed” with the candidates.
The continued support from the community has been a big help to the police, Ladouceur said, adding the lightning-fast sharing of their posts on Facebook is just one example of how the public has assisted them on a regular basis.
