DRUNKS NEED CARE, NOT JAIL, POLICE SAY

People who get drunk in public should be offered treatment, not thrown in
jail to sober up, Calgary police say.

Sandy Durrant, chairman of the Calgary Police Commission, and Chief Jack
Beaton floated the idea of putting the care of drunks in the hands of
agencies other than police to the city's community and protective services
committee on Wednesday.

Although it's the job of police to arrest and hold addicts, they don't have
the resources or the mandate to get them help.

"Dealing with inebriates is an issue of health, it's not necessarily a
policing issue," said Durrant.

The Calgary Drop-In Centre has long proposed taking responsibility for the
drunk tank and offering treatment for those willing to take it.

The police service has been in discussion with the Calgary centre to
transfer some of that responsibility for several years.

Executive director Dermot Baldwin said building plans for a new
$4.5-million "sobering centre" are complete, although land has yet to be
secured.

Permission from the police commission to go ahead with the project has not
been granted.

Baldwin said a three-storey building housing the centre would be within
several blocks of the Drop-In Centre and should have the ability to house
150 people a night.

Tentatively called The Bridge, the facility would be the first of its kind
in Canada, said Baldwin.

He added, it would include addiction treatment, job training and a medical
centre.

Baldwin's plans, however, appear to be overly ambitious, said Sandy
Durrant, chairman of the Calgary police commission.

The two groups put together a joint proposal to the commission nearly two
years ago, but were asked to find another partner who would take
responsibility for addiction rehabilitation, said Durrant.

"We decided that the proposal that came to us needed considerably more
work," she said.

Durrant said a group similar to the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Commission would be a welcome addition.

Police arrest more than 3,000 people a year for public intoxication.

They are brought to the downtown arrest processing unit, where they spend
the night in the drunk tank.

At 7:30 a.m., they're cut loose, but many return.

The deaths of two drunk-tank prisoners prompted authorities to look for
different ways of running the facility. Medical problems should be
considered and detainees should be treated as patients.

Randhir Singh Johal, 58, died after being arrested for public drunkenness
in August 1999.

A fatality inquiry found Johal's death went unnoticed for five hours.

Willard Taypayosatum, 36, had been in the drunk tank more than 30 times in
the months leading up to his death.

He suffered a heart attack in his cell and later died.

"Police are not in the business of rehabilitation and social work," said
Baldwin. "(They) need more of a treatment model, not incarceration."