Alternative Response Officers to become permanent fixture on Saskatoon streets

A Saskatoon Police Service (SPS) pilot project will now become a permanent part of the organization.

The Board of Police Commissioners voted in favour of making the Alternative Response Officers (ARO) pilot program a permanent component part of the SPS this week.

During the discussion, Randy Pshebylo from the Riversdale business improvement district called the program a success.

“From all accounts, even outside my window, the arrests are being made when necessary and it’s not just moving the problem on its being dealt with head-on.”

Pshebylo said the security provided by AROs gave business owners the confidence to increase their evening activity in the area.

“That encourages that night time activity and economy that we’re going towards,” he said at the meeting.

“Our eyes as the Riverdale business improvement district are on this downtown event and entertainment district to build it as close as possible….and that will in itself create more people and instances and safety but we’re not there yet.”

In a presentation that examined the effectiveness of the ARO program, Darren Pringle told the board that in the 240 days of duty for AROs, they were more inclined to give warnings and offer support than to pursue enforcement.

“There was some initial concern when this came out that it was going to be all enforcement, but we took the position that it was enforcement if necessary but not necessarily enforcement,” Pringle explained.

An independent assessment of the program was done by Tarah Hodgekinson, who is an assistant professor of criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her findings were that AROs allowed police officers to focus more on serious crime.

“When an ARO was in a position of supporting a regular officer that meant that another regular officer didn’t have to be,” Pringle said during the meeting.

He said AROs took on administrative and supportive duties, allowing police officers to attend to more violent calls.

Hodgekinson also commented in her report that the ARO model was beneficial in that it kept police services public rather than allow it to become a private service.

Some on the board raised concerns that a budget was not presented before the vote on whether or not to make the ARO an official part of SPS.

Pringle said the program would be close to $700,000 and would be presented as part of the SPS budget.

“We have a $350,000 pot now. There is a gap there we will have to discuss at budget.”

He said the program could be reduced to save on costs, but it would impact the outcomes.

During the discussion, Commissioner Brent Penner said that some AROs start off their policing careers in the program.

“They are learning good skills which no doubt makes their police college training that much more effective and they are hitting the ground running when they go there.”