Cobourg Police chief's report on encampment costs will be added to pleas to the province

By Cecilia Nasmith

A report by Cobourg Police Chief Paul VandeGraaf made on the costs his force is incurring will be part of appeals to the Province of Ontario by the Town of Cobourg and Northumberland County for help in covering the cost of the homeless encampment at the former Brookside Youth Centre.

VandeGraaf delivered his report at the July Police Services Board meeting Tuesday and – recalling the pledges by Cobourg and Northumberland to approach the province for help, given that they have refused to authorize the clearing of the provincially owned property – Cobourg Deputy Mayor Nicole Beatty made the motion to include the documentation the chief provided.

“Calls for service continue to increase – it's a drain on our resources daily,” VandeGraaf told the board.

“We are assisting all other community agencies who now will not enter the encampment without police being present, unless it's a dire life-threatening emergency.

“By no means are we going to fail to support our fellow emergency-services personnel, but it's a drain on our resources.”

While he has hope of containing budget overruns overall, VanderGraaf continued, “if you look at individual lines, we are already in the red.”

While they hope to continue their Dynamic Downtown Patrol through the rest of the summer, he added, “we have already had to move people in different directions.

“Right now, at certain times, we can just do what is being asked of us at the time. We intend to keep it going the best we can, but there are days when calls take us elsewhere. But I still think our members hit home runs every day.”

One thing that distinguishes the Brookside situation from encampments in other communities is that it has only been going on about a year now. And he estimates the cost to the Cobourg Police Service at about $81,000 through the end of June. To put it another way, that's the cost of the base salary of a full-time-equivalent police constable exclusive of pension and benefits – a constable who might otherwise be able to provide service elsewhere in the community.

This is basic-response service, VandeGraaf pointed out. It does not include other considerations, like extraordinary incidents or the time it takes to follow up on each incident – or the time required, in the future, when some of these people who have been arrested begin to make court appearances.

“Our intention is to collaborate with other community agencies to make sure we are all carrying the load, and do everything we can. But we really have to recognize our lane in this,” the chief said.

Asked by committee vice-chair Adam Bureau whether he foresaw the encampment growing or declining, VandeGraaf hedged.

“I don't have a crystal ball, so I don't want to say it's getting better. I think 'status quo' is probably the best answer,” he said.