Police showcase conditions in encampments with new video

A new video being released by Edmonton police is showing the conditions of encampments around the city.

Former Edmonton police officer, and criminologist Dan Jones explains in the video exactly what police have been dealing with when they respond to encampment calls.

“You see a lot of cable and wires and bike stuff. You see a lot of property that was potentially stolen, you got gas cans and you’re going to see an unsafe environment really,” said Jones.

WATCH: Video by Edmonton police showing the conditions of encampments around the city

Police say they face risks daily from the risk of toxic fumes due to biohazards to the risk of explosions with propane, often being used inside tents for heating and cooking.

“We are routinely faced with open flames and open fires within encampments and appreciate that that is a source for people to keep warm and cook food in some cases. However, the reality of having an open flame within an encampment is simply not safe,” explained Michael Dreilich, Staff Sgt with the Edmonton Police Service.

“It’s labelled right inside a tent that open flames are not suitable within that structure – so when my members are responding, when first responders are responding, when outreach is responding, the chance of an explosion is very real and you saw that in the videos and that shrapnel from even a 1 pound propane tank can travel hundreds of feet and cause some serious injury, so it’s a very real concern on a daily basis.”

Police are also warning of known gangs, preying on those in encampments.

“You see this vehicle being towed away, peoples’ belongings taped in there. This one you’ve got Red Alert tagging on a street corner nearby and then continuously just more and more different garbage and things that have been accumulated in the encampments sites itself,” said Jones.

“They’re going prey on vulnerable people, they are going to sell drugs, they are going to extort, they are going to do that and I’ve seen that with this crime group over the years.  I’ve seen it where they have taken over peoples’ home and moved in and run operations and threat harm to the people in the house and say, ‘we are taking your house’,” Jones said.  

“So those groups are going to take every opportunity they can to make money and exert their influence and really again, specifically with street gangs, those level of street gangs, compared to organized crime, they’re very very very much about respect, but that respect comes through a level of fear and intimidation”

With reports of gangs charging people to access social services.

“The Red Alert street gang, the ASERP street gang, it’s no secret they prey on vulnerable people, they have been operating for a long time in our city, it’s challenging, like the deputy said, because when they embed themselves in these encampments not typical organized crime,” explained Eric Stewart, Staff Sgt with the Edmonton Police Service.

“We seem to focus on in the world that we live in of organized crime branches, operating in homes and in vehicles, this is street level. Trying to get your finger on the pulse when it comes to this is very challenging

With many scared to come forward to police, and police trying to do what they can to investigate major crimes. But also saying they often turn a blind eye and let lesser criminal activity, because of the challenge of getting those living in encampments to attend court and help the prosecution.

Many of the images are from the Dawson Ravine camp, that’s where police recently found a large collection of knives and swords, all in a single case.

“It’s illegal to carry a weapon from protection – we know that – that being said, if I were to be an unhoused person in Edmonton and there were street gangs coming at me trying to get me to pay money I don’t have for a place so that I can stay, I might have a weapon too, and I think we need to again, the weapons are an issue for sure it’s dangerous, but let’s break it down to more than we’re just seeing in the encampments and let’s get the social sector and also bring them in and have some accountability for them as well.  Have some accountability for the shelters people don’t want to go to,” explained Jones.

“I understand that [police] showed the weapons, but how many houses do you go into that have weapons?” Jones asks.  “You walk into a house, there’s knives, there’s potentially Samurai swords, there are potentially guns.

“There’s going to be weapons, there’s going to be violence.  Unfortunately there is violence in society and unfortunately you walk into many houses and they are going to have those same kind of weapons, and I think we also have to realize that these are individuals that may want to help themselves and protect themselves and that’s illegal,” he explained.

Jones added that conversations need to happen to determine why people would rather stay in encampments instead of going to available shelter spaces.

“I think we know the answer, they are not necessarily as humane as they should be. You’re sleeping on a mat on the floor beside someone else who is potentially coming off of some type of a substance and when people detox off substances it’s really not a pretty thing to watch. I think that’s the other side of it people don’t realize – there is a lot of pain and suffering that comes with it when you’re coming off specifically drugs like fentanyl and heroin and opioids,” said Jones.

“There is fear of the shelter spaces and I’ve talked to individuals in the community who have those fears, they are not necessarily getting charged to go into the shelters because the shelters are run by community organizations, but they feel it’s an unsafe environment.

“In my own [area] ravine on the south side of Edmonton, I spoke to individuals unhoused and he was going to work every day, he just couldn’t afford a place to live.  I asked him about downtown and he said, ‘I’m terrified down there.’ The shelters aren’t safe and he said he couldn’t even get a really good sleep down there because there is light and noise and I really do think we have to be more humane and humanize the way we interact,” Jones added.

Jones said Calgary is retrofitting unused office space in their downtown core and turning those into living spaces for people.

“I think we have to explore very different ways to address this because the economy is what the economy is, and we have over 3,000 unhoused people and it’s going to be -46 on Sunday with the windchill so we really need to start being a little more purposive and I think we also need to see more work with our community agencies and try to understand what we need to do to get people to leave and go into those places,” he explained.

“We know one of the three big ones [of why people don’t use shelters] are pets, property, and partners if you talk to unhoused folks because you can’t stay with your partner. You can’t bring your pet in.   And some people will say, ‘I can’t believe some of these unhoused people have pets, how can they afford that?” Well, you know what, companionship and pets are actually really good for you and I think that we again dehumanize these folks by saying, ‘Well, they are unhoused so they shouldn’t have what I have’, which I totally disagree with, and I think we need to look at that.”

While police say they are responding with compassion, Jones says there needs to be even more compassion and understanding.

Saying that, while the video might be shocking, to him it’s unfortunately not. It’s something he saw all too often on the front lines. Now just on a much, much larger scale as the homeless population has grown in recent years.