Boots on the ground
KLPS foot patrol rekindles community ties in downtown Lindsay
As many residents and business owners have noticed, there has been an increased police presence in downtown Lindsay. This is due to the foot patrol program that Kawartha Lakes Police Services (KLPS) has implemented.
This proactive approach is already making an impact.
Sergeant Ryan Boutin of the community response unit says the feedback so far has been positive. “Business owners love us walking downtown, and the community does too. Certainly, the older population, it reminds them of what they used to see when they were younger.”
It has always been a goal of KLPS to have a presence in the community, but with call volumes increasing year after year “those opportunities were becoming less and less,” Boutin said. “The chief (Kirk Robinson) is really wanting to invest the effort into making sure we’re downtown more often.”
Recently, there have been several calls reporting people begging on the streets. “Sometimes there’s some aggressive panhandling. If there’s targeted enforcement, or patrol, that happens to ensure that that’s not happening or (we can) address the issue while it’s happening,” Boutin said.
He says that by knowing where these spots of high activity are, these patrols can be placed strategically. “The general public wouldn’t really know that we’re keeping tabs on what’s happening currently and what the trends are, that there are problem areas which are starting to develop. We address those before they become a bigger issue.”
Having worked in a variety of roles, such as the K9 unit, criminal investigations branch, and the courthouse, Boutin has seen his fair share of changes. “The opioid crisis is one of the biggest,” he said. Officers in all units carry Narcan kits, which work to quickly reduce the effects of an overdose. From January to June this year, there have been 20 suspected opioid related deaths in the Kawartha Lakes Haliburton region. Eight of them occurred in June alone.
Boutin enjoys his time when he’s on foot patrol where he has plenty of opportunities to talk to civilians and business owners. “It’s never boring, it’s just not the excitement level that you see on TV.” He points to the CSI effect, leading many people to not fully understand the role of police. The influence of crime shows skew public perceptions of policing.
He finds that this misunderstanding can lead to the public not seeing a lot of the work KLPS is doing. “For example, our community services officer Kevin Walden works primarily with schools and does a lot of community events with adults as well, but mostly with the younger and high school-aged kids. That’s something that the public doesn’t see.”
Having programs like that is all about trying to prevent damaging cycles of poverty and addiction from occurring in families and children. “I want to hopefully stop that and interact with kids in a positive light, to maybe change their perspective, or give them some form of role modeling they might not get.”
His goal is to have good interactions with everyone he meets while on duty. “I could be arresting them. Even if I do, I’m doing it in such a way where it respects their dignity and changes their impression as to what police officers are.”
While it’s hard to measure how successful the program has been, “if I can make somebody’s day just a little bit better than that for me (is a success),” Boutin said. “It’s not every day you’re going to get somebody to rehab or get them to a point where their mental health is addressed to where it’s not affecting their lives.”
