EDMONTON — A strategy where Edmonton police work with offenders to address the root of their criminal behaviour has proven to reduce offending up to 40 per cent, the service says.
According to the Edmonton Police Service, there are some 55,000 offenders at any given time in Alberta's capital city. But a small number of them are responsible for a disproportionate number of offences affecting Edmontonians daily, like property damage, theft and break-ins. Just 200 people were responsible for more than 4,400 crimes of this kind between January 2016 and December 2020, EPS says.
The strategy sees officers, social workers and community agencies partner up to identify these offenders they consider both prolific and persistent, intervene when possible, target enforcement at other times, and connect people with supports.
Sgt. Renee Martynuik said research has shown repeat criminal behaviour is "often driven by an offender's unmet need. Not because they're inherently bad people."
"If police can be in a better place to – instead of constantly just responding to those traumas and those challenges in the community – we can actually be a better part of the solution farther up the road," she said.
The success of the methodology, years in the making, was recognized most recently with the creation of an official branch in EPS called Diversion and Desistance (D&D).
Currently, with three social workers included on its payroll, the unit has the ability to manage about 60 offenders at a time who are still in the city and not incarcerated.
The program does not give offenders any kind of credit to be used if convicted again.
When they have been "crime free" for a period – varying from one person to the next – more cases are brought on.
Martynuik described her role as a cheerleader of sorts.
"Sometimes traumatic behaviour can make somebody start to have some really poor ideas about society and about the positive people in society, so they'll start to act out in a negative way. So some of the things that we try to do is really develop a relationship with our offender, with empathy, really respect where they're at in their process at that time, offer some assistance, and if the offender continues to offend, they will be held accountable," she said.
"But the biggest part of the work that we do is trying to get someone on boarded to other areas of services so that the offender isn't necessarily relying on police to navigate issues for them."
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson
