TOP COP CONTINUES PUSH FOR 'SAFE JAIL'

Calgary's top cop is again touting the need for a "safe jail" for
addicts and the mentally ill, which he says accounts for the majority
of city crime.

Speaking to the Calgary Northeast Eyeopener Lions Club on Sunday,
Chief Rick Hanson said he has met with provincial government
officials about creating a safe jail and there is an appetite for it.

"But because it came at a time when budgets are being cut they don't
want to look at anything new just yet," said Hanson, adding he's
confident the idea will eventually come to fruition.

"Unfortunately, with every year that goes by we loses more and more
opportunity to impact people."

An advocate of creating a secure facility for addicts and the
mentally ill to serve their time in since 2009, Hanson said he has a
jail chosen for a pilot project but it will likely be "a while"
before anything is done.

"Basically we think there should be one jail run as a secure detox
facility," he said.

"The numbers of addicted folks and mentally ill people that wind up
in jails and prisons is such I think there is a need for a different approach.

"It's essential given the number of addicts and alcoholics and in
some cases mentally ill folks who are self-medicating ... otherwise
the revolving door of the justice system perpetuates them getting
back out there and doing it all over again."

Getting addicts clean and identifying mental health issues is the
best way of keeping people out of the justice system, said Hanson.

"They've done studies and if left on the street, (addicts) cost us
$250,000 a year," he said.

"We arrest them, we put them in jail, they then go into court where a
judge deals with them, they'll get sentenced and go to Spy Hill and
be released back into the community when their sentence is done with
no fixed address and the cycle starts all over again.