Watch above: Saskatoon police Chief Clive Weighill discusses how the Privacy Act is hindering police work.
SASKATOON – Saskatoon’s police chief says practices around privacy in Saskatchewan sometimes get in the way of police being able to do their jobs.
“It does hinder our work,” police Chief Clive Weighill told Global News. “You go to a school, there’s problems with a young student, you start to talk to the teachers, and they can’t share the information because of the Education Act … if health gets involved, they can’t share the information about this person because of the Health Act,” he said.
Weighill said sometimes police are dealing with people who face “acute, elevated risk situations” and it can be frustrating for police not to get all the information they need to do the job.
“We need to share that information … we’re working with the province, and hopefully with the privacy commissioner,” said Weighill.
He believes some of the problem lies with people not being completely clear on what can and cannot be shared with other agencies.
“What concerns me, a lot of people, especially in health and education, really don’t understand the act, and would rather be safe than sorry and not share the information,” said Weighill. He wants to see that change, and be able to work with other agencies, so that when they are dealing with high risk situations, police and others get the information they need.
“There are some ways we can share,” he said, “and really help that person, or that family out.”
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Weighill added one model that does seem to be bridging the gap is the HUB model in Saskatoon, where health, social services, education and police work together to help people who are at risk for one reason or another.
The HUB model was launched in April and follows crime-cutting measure first introduced in Prince Albert in 2011. Since then, violent crimes in the northern Saskatchewan city are down by nearly 40 per cent.
MORE: Saskatoon strives to combat crime through community mobilization
In November, Saskatoon Police Service launched the Centre of Responsibility (COR), which analyzes crime to get to the root of the issues and stop it before it hits a crisis point.
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