Adult sentence lengths in correctional services have dropped to a five-year low, according to newly released data from Statistics Canada.
In 2021, the total incarceration time in Canada dropped more than 80 per cent compared to the total in 2016.
The largest drop in admissions is for sentences under three months with local communities adopting a newfound approach to petty-crime policing.
“The Crown is having to make some very difficult decisions, having to drop cases that are prosecutable and might lead to a sentence,” said Superintendent Cliff O’Brien of the Calgary Police Service (CPS) on why incarceration lengths are down overall. “But they’re just going on, and we just don’t have the resources to deal with all of these.”
Alternative crisis response measures and community supports, such as the Calgary Alpha House Society and its Downtown Outreach Addictions Partnership (DOAP) team, have stepped up to handle these cases. Interest in these types of approaches has increased in recent years, especially in light of the 2020 BLM protests calling for more accountable policing.
According to O’Brien, the recidivism rate was quite high for those incarcerated for less than a year on minor offences.
“What we’ve found is that when you come out, you’re actually more bitter, and perhaps you’ve learned some things that we don’t want you to learn,” he said.
O’Brien highlighted that looking for alternative community support in place of some forms of policing is a good thing.
“If there’s a way to treat that mental health or addiction instead of just incarcerating them and then having them come out in six to eight months where nothing has changed, I think that makes a lot of sense,” he said.
Phoebe Sawchuk has lived along Calgary’s 17th Avenue southwest for the past three years.
“I actually noticed that vandalism and property crime went down during COVID,” Sawchuk said.
Sawchuk volunteers at Good Neighbour, a pay-what-you-want store run and personally encounters many of the vulnerable Calgarians these new approaches are targeting.
“We should be putting more public funds into social services that serve the same purpose as the DOAP team or as Alpha House,” Sawchuk said. ” I don’t think we should have to rely on mutual aid groups. I think they do great work, but it’s a burden that they shouldn’t have to take the weight of.”
Sawchuk echoes the same sentiment that many advocates for alternative policing and crisis response initiatives have made clear in recent years. “I feel way more comfortable calling the DOAP team for someone in distress than I do calling an ambulance, or even if there was a way to call medical assistance without the police having to be there.”
O’Brien made clear that the CPS is doing what it can under this legislation. But regardless of the crime, these are issues that need meaningful community assistance and not just police services.
I feel way more comfortable calling the DOAP team for someone in distress than I do calling an ambulance, or even if there was a way to call medical assistance without the police having to be there. – Phoebe Sawchuk
“We have to figure out what role the police should play, and that just because we’re the only 24/7 response to crises does not mean that we should go to everything,” O’Brien said.
Founded in 1981, Alpha House’s mission is to provide safe and caring environments for individuals whose lives are affected by alcohol and other drug dependencies. The DOAP team is one of several outreach services acting as a mobile response unit for street-level intoxication.
The DOAP outreach team can be reached 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at 403-998-7388.
