The Saskatoon Board of Police Commissioners is unanimously endorsing city council approve additional funding for an 8-officer Community Mobilization Unit for the Pleasant Hill area. The goal is to have the unit on patrol before the safe consumption site opens in 2020. Chief Troy Cooper says with the rising number of calls to the area and an increase in violent crime since the summer, there is already a need for an increased police presence. He adds their studies of other communities with safe consumption sites suggest it’s more difficult to successfully address the arising issues after the sites open in addition to being more expensive. The Chief also says having a constant presence should mean they won’t have to pull officers out of other neighbourhoods as often when calls come in. The plan is to have two officers and a patrol car in the area around the clock. The officers who will have specialized training in reacting to drug related issues will spend half of their time in the vehicle and half on the beat. Cooper feels they can make residents feel safer without creating a police state atmosphere while sending a message to drug traffickers that victimizing vulnerable people with addictions won’t be tolerated. Saskatoon’s head of the police service points out they don’t have the financial or manpower resources to establish the unit without increased funding. Commissioners unanimously approved asking council to fund the 8-officer unit at a cost of just over 828-thousand dollars in 2020 and almost 808-thousand in 2021.