A Sarnia police officer, who led the Downtown Village Constable Pilot Project, says the main issues he encountered related to homelessness.
Cst. Jamie Fraser said open drug use, trespassing, and loitering outside of businesses were recurring challenges in the downtown and Mitton Village areas. However, Fraser's patrols also included the area of Indian Road and Exmouth Street.
The Sarnia Police Service's (SPS) pilot project launched in early June and continued into September.
Fraser said he was essentially given a blank page to begin with.
"I took the approach, basically, to start out conversing with all the business owners in the downtown region, mainly," he said. "Just to get a gauge of some of their concerns or if there were any ongoing issues."
In total, Fraser said he made approximately 30 arrests and responded to roughly 350 occurrences.
"[It] might not sound like a lot for a summer, but for one officer, when you have to do reports and all that, each occurrence takes time... it was very busy, " he said.
Since June 1, there have been 231 calls for service directly related to the area of Indian Road and Exmouth Street, read a report to the SPS Board in late August.
The report also said the program's proactive approach helped alleviate the workload on other frontline patrol officers in the area.
"However, the true value of the program extends beyond enforcement, it lies in the ongoing relationships Cst. Fraser has cultivated, which strengthens cooperation between the police and the community," read the police report. It's unknown at this point if the program will continue next summer.
If it does, Fraser suggested that it expand to become a two-person patrol instead of just one.
"It would have been nice to have another officer with me. It wasn't a huge deal because obviously there are other officers patrolling, if I ever needed a hand, a quick call on the radio and someone was always right there," he said. "I think just for, even camaraderie [too]."
Data to compare the number of arrests in the downtown and Mitton Village areas in 2024 and 2023 were not available at the time of publication.
