Taking on crime with a helping hand

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This article was published 17/04/2024 (430 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A local program called Headway, designed to support struggling youth, adults and their families to lower their involvement with crime received an enthusiastic endorsement from Steinbach RCMP Staff Sgt. Guy Landreville at an April 2 Steinbach council meeting.

Landreville presented the year end crime statistics to council, noting that break and enters had risen from 2022 to 2023 by 30 percent to 152.

“The culprits are not really dealt with as far as being incarcerated for any length of time and it causes us further problems when they’re just released as quickly as they’re put in,” he told council.

Landreville said most of the break and enters and some thefts, which also saw a small increase to 387, are addiction driven.

Many are addicted and methamphetamine is a popular drug, for good reason.

“You must understand that this drug, methamphetamine, is extremely addictive and extremely cheap so that a lot more people can participate,” he said. “Compared to cocaine in the ‘70s which was a rich man’s drug and today with methamphetamine, $10 to $15 and you can be high for three days.”

That’s why a program like Headway is showing much more promise than simply arresting them and having the courts release them.

“It’s the same people doing the same crimes over and over for the same reason,” he said. “Traditional ways (like) the old days is basically not working.”

Landreville said they have found success in the Headway program.

Headway was built on a model out of Selkirk and has been operating with a goal of ensuring their clients are moving forward to become resilient and productive members of their communities.

Governed by a steering committee made up of representatives from the RCMP, Probation Services, Hanover School Division, Child and Family Services, Southern Health and The Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, the organization works with people who live in the area covered by Hanover School Division.

Program coordinator Brenda Brown said they’re currently working with 26 clients.

She said they have found great success with the provincial program averaging an 85 to 95 percent success rate.

That’s based on tracking involvement with the court system and RCMP as well as helping them address challenges such as underemployment, substance abuse, mental health, housing issues, untreated trauma or being victims of crime.

“A lot of the clients that come to us have inadequate resources and support so one of our main jobs is to find them relevant and helpful support to get support teams around them,” Brown said.

She added that since the program began in the area eight-and-a-half years ago, she’s only seen a handful who haven’t bettered their situation.

“You have a person who feels hopeless, and they just want to turn their lives around (but) they have no way to start,” she said. “Then we give them resources and a support team, and we walk with them until they’re stable. It’s not surprising that they do well when we give them hope and guidance in finding that stability.”

To refer a client or to learn more about Headway, go to headwaysteinbach.ca.