Sudbury police's three-year plan focuses on harm reduction

Police in Greater Sudbury unveiled its strategic direction Wednesday, a plan outlining its focus for the next three years.

The plan took into account internal and external feedback from its members and the community. Gerry Lougheed, vice-chair of the police services board, described the plan as inclusive.

"In Ontario right now, there's changing times with the Police Services Act, with regard to transparency, with regard to all police services boards," Lougheed said.

"(The plan) challenges people, to make sure we have the best, superlative services and it will be very good for the community."

The plan focuses on three categories: its members, its service and the safety and well-being of the community.

Chief Paul Pedersen said harm reduction and a human-centred approach will be key.

"We can see from the past year, the focus still continues to be community priorities,” Pedersen said.

Police in Greater Sudbury unveiled its strategic direction Wednesday, a plan outlining its focus for the next three years. (Photo from video)

“Those things we see a lot of, social issues, it is about drugs, it is about opioids, it is about vulnerable populations.”

Addressing intimate partner violence is an additional focus. Greater Sudbury recently joined a number of northern Ontario cities in declaring it an epidemic.

Police said in November alone, there were 187 reports of intimate partner violence.

"In the north, we know intimate partner violence is higher than the rest of the province," Pedersen said.

"In the strategic plan, that’s where you see the harm focus, that’s where you need to focus not only on victims and wait for it to happen but focus on harms, how can we get involved further upstream to start working with others, other groups."

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Pedersen said police will be working with community partners to try and make a dent in the statistics.

"Those who are offenders now might have been victims in the past, so how can we work with other groups like John Howard Society and others to build resiliency and capacity so people don’t offend down the road," he said.