Ahead of all homeless encampments being cleared out during the day in Sarnia, city police are getting ready for the change.
Sarnia council on Monday voted to clear all homeless encampments, including the site at Rainbow Park.
City council's move followed a court ruling in Hamilton that found the city did not infringe on the Charter rights of encampment residents when enforcing its bylaw that banned tents in parks.
Sarnia Police Chief Derek Davis said the first point of contact will be city bylaw officers.
"Bylaw goes, bylaw does whatever bylaw deems fit in that circumstance, we are always available for safety support, that type of thing," said Davis. "And, if things do tend to escalate then of course we can be called, but the police are not the primary responder to this issue. I think that's one of the challenges. We will of course deal with the ancillary crimes if they're related, but not everyone has those types of challenges."
Davis said the move from Rainbow Park, will result in some operational changes for the service, its patrol officers and the IMPACT team.
"As challenging and difficult as it is for that particular community, and we're certainly very aware of what that community has been through," said Davis. "The other part of that is that consolidation has eased some of the response. We take no position on how that goes, it's just operationally what we're going to prepare to adopt to is a dispersed population, which will lead to perhaps other unintended consequences."
There are currently fewer than 10 tents at Rainbow Park, and the overall shelter system is on average between 80 to 90 per cent full.
The police chief said clearing the encampments will not solve the homelessness issue.
"Any of those individuals, if they choose not to go somewhere or not seek help or supports that are offered then that's protected rights as Canadian citizens to elect to live their life as they see, and if they are removed from there then they have to go somewhere," said Davis.
According to the County of Lambton website, there are over 300 individuals on the by-name list of homelessness. That number includes individuals who are couch-surfing, housed unstably, in shelters, sleeping outside and in transitional housing.