PEI·NewA new study shows Summerside police are responding to more non-crime-related calls linked to homelessness and mental health, and it’s putting extra pressure on officers.’You can see individuals that are struggling with homelessness on a daily basis,’ says residentConnor Lamont · CBC News · Posted: Oct 16, 2025 6:03 AM EDT | Last Updated: 28 minutes agoSummerside resident Mike MacBeth attended a public safety town hall Wednesday night to share his concerns and ideas for making the community safer. (Connor Lamont/CBC)A new study shows Summerside police are responding to more non-crime-related calls linked to homelessness and mental health, and it’s putting extra pressure on officers.The city had a crime prevention needs assessment done after seeing a spike in crime following the pandemic. Residents had a chance to learn about the findings and share their safety concerns at a town hall meeting Wednesday night.Some in attendance said it’s not hard to notice the number of people struggling with homelessness, addiction and mental health in P.E.I.’s second-largest city. “It has increased drastically over the past ten years,” said Mike MacBeth. “You can see individuals that are struggling with homelessness on a daily basis. There’s no question. I walk at the boardwalk every evening with my dog and you see it and people are struggling and we need to help fix that.”Summerside residents discuss safety concerns and ways to make the city a better place to live during a public safety town hall Wednesday night. (Connor Lamont/CBC)“A lot of people are concerned because they’re not getting information,” said resident Tracey Wadman. “They’re seeing a lot of homelessness. They’re seeing a lot of mental health and addiction issues and probably not seeing the results like the success stories.” Findings and recommendations What’s changed for Summerside is the growing number of calls where no crime is actually being committed. These include reports of a suspicious person, someone experiencing a mental health crisis or someone sleeping in a public place.Issues like homelessness, addiction, and mental illness are driving up police workloads — problems officers can’t solve alone.Chris Giacomantonio, a criminologist and social policy researcher who authored the assessment, said the most important thing the city can do is improve partnerships between groups in the city, such as mental health and addiction treatment services, to make sure no one falls through the cracks. People are struggling and we need to help fix that.- Mike MacBeth, Summerside residentOne solution could be a Centre of Responsibility that would involve an individual or group that helps police and other city resources best respond to non-crime issues.“All of the agencies that deal with complex social issues in Summerside, like everywhere else in the province, have a lot of work already,” said Giacomantonio.“They’re worked to capacity, so to ask them on top of that to do the work of co-ordination is unlikely to yield the results they want. If you want good consistent co-ordination between agencies, it needs to be independently resourced.” Officials weigh inChief Jason Blacquiere of Summerside Police Services said the city faces the same social challenges as other similarly sized communities across Canada.The force receives many complaints related to homelessness, such as encampments, loitering and trespassing, which take significant time and resources to manage.”We don’t have a lot of answers for those problems,” said Blacquiere. “But they fall to police to deal with a lot of times just because they’re so visible to the communities. So that’s why it’s important that we continue to work with our partners.”Summerside police also dealt with staffing issues in the past, but Blacquiere said the force has taken the necessary steps to fix that, including launching a cadet training program. Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher and criminologist Chris Giacomantonio speak with residents during Wednesday night’s public safety town hall. (Connor Lamont/CBC)For other city officials, the study’s findings confirmed what they already knew.“Police are the ones who are available 24/7, who respond to something when it’s in the community and no one knows who else to call,” said Summerside Mayor Dan Kutcher. “That puts a lot of pressure on our police services.” “It puts our police in a situation where they’re sometimes doing the work of social workers or the work of placement workers to get people into appropriate housing. They’re doing things that are outside the normal course of policing work.”The town hall is part of a bigger project the city’s safer neighbourhood committee is taking on to make the area safer.”We try and do the best with what we have and try and make sure ultimately that people have a safer, vibrant, more connected community that they feel good about,” said Kutcher. ABOUT THE AUTHORConnor Lamont is a news reporter at CBC Prince Edward Island, based in Charlottetown. He previously worked at CBC News Network in Toronto and is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University.
New study shows non-crime calls on the rise in Summerside
