FORT FRANCES — The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is asking business owners on Scott Street to call them if they see an offence being committed, specifically in the case of Rainy Lake Square and business parking lots.
The downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA) on Scott Street met with OPP sergeant Matt Bartlett and special constable Matt Sweigard on July 11, 2024, to talk about ongoing efforts to curtail loitering related offences in and around the square, such as urinating/defecating in public and littering of drug paraphernalia such as needles and crack pipes.
“I've noticed that you guys have definitely been more of a presence in the last few weeks,” Ted Debenetti of A Buck or Two said to the officers.
The BIA has been fighting an up-hill battle to stop people from excessive loitering in the Rainy Lake Square where they use the free WIFI and power provided by the town of Fort Frances and use the area as a public toilet - sometimes in full view of people working and shopping nearby.
“It's being taken advantage of, I would say, right now by certain people and it's affecting everybody,” said Sgt. Bartlett, who noted that the OPP relies on the public as their eyes and ears and has asked anyone witnessing an offence to call 911 if it is an emergency like a drug overdose, or their direct line at 1-888-310-1122 for offences related to littering and loitering.
“We send day shift officers, night shift officers,” said Bartlett. “We send mobile crisis response team officers that have a Canadian mental health worker attached to them.”
Bartlett said that since June 21st, there have been 26 appearances by O.P.P. officers in the area around the square, sometimes in plain clothes and in unmarked cars, who have resulted in 18 charges being laid so far.
He said the current operation is slated to go on until July 21st, when they will collect and analyze the data they gathered and report back to the BIA for an update on the situation.
“I’m affected by it as much as anybody because we’re right next to it,” said John Homer, owner of Causeway Insurance.
Homer said that customers have been complaining about the behaviours of some people loitering around the square and he said his employees have expressed a reluctance to come to work because of how disturbing and frightening the encounters can be.
“I have a gas meter in front of the door and there was a lady literally puking on the gas metre and it was splashing on my foot,” said Homer.
Homer said that the O.P.P. increased foot patrols last summer and that he had noticed a huge difference in the area as a result.
He said he hadn’t seen any foot patrols this year so far, but he noticed that police are frequently driving down the street and the back lane.
Sgt. Bartlett noted that calls from business owners and the public help them to allocate resources.
The OPP also has an officer in their detachment who has mental health training and is paired with an officer to go out and meet people on the street who may be experiencing mental health issues, he said.
“I also think the long-term solution to that problem is not to write the guy a ticket that he crumbles up and then throws in front of your store that you have to pick up,” said Bartlett.
He explained that the mission for the current operation in Rainy Lake Square was to reduce crime and victim victimization while maximizing resource deployments and efficiencies.
“We have a registry code to track the number of hours that are spent here,” said Bartlett.
“And then we also have our mobile crisis response team attached to our mental health worker.”
Bartlett said that they had registered close to 23 hours of dedicated patrol in the area and there is a lot of activity at times when people may not be around to see what’s going on.
Homer said that he is getting three cameras installed around his office to help monitor the situation at the square, and Constable Sweigard said that having cameras installed is a powerful investigative tool for law enforcement.
Fort Frances Times / Local Journalism Initiative
