The full impact of closing two youth detention centres in the area won't be known until probably the end of the year, according to Timmins Police Chief John Gauthier.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services announced the closures of Pinegar Youth Centre in Kirkland Lake and Mee-Quam Youth Residence in Cochrane.
Male youths will now be sent to Sterling B. Campbell House in Sudbury and females will be sent to Bruce J. McKitrick Centre in Thunder Bay.
Gauthier talked about the impact those changes will have on the Timmins Police court services section and the special constables who transport youth to custodial facilities.
"The distance to these locations is substantially further than the transportation in the past, particularly the transportation of the female young offenders to Thunder Bay. It should be noted that the logistical arrangements will be significant since escorts to retrieve prisoners for court were historically done in the morning before court. This is no longer possible due to the travel distance required to retrieve those youth,” he said, reading a memo on the changes prepared by Insp. Darren Dinel.
A female youth entering a guilty plea was used as an example to highlight the potential impact.
A special constable, explained Gauthier, would travel to Thunder Bay on day one.
"They would travel back day two and lodge the youth here at the police service. They’d plead guilty on day three, they’d escort the youth on day four and then travel back to Timmins on day five," he said.
When the closures were announced, the Ministry told TimminsToday that in 2019-20 the usage rate at Pinegar Youth Centre was 16 per cent. In Ontario, there were 8,500 fewer admissions per year than in 2004-05.
Timmins Police records indicate there were 32 escorts to the two centres in 2019, including six females, and 10 escorts in 2020. All of the escorts in 2020 were male.
"This reduction does not appear to be as a result of the reasons indicated by the Ministry but more as a result of COVID-19 measures since the reduction occurred outside the ministry evaluation period. Nevertheless we would hope to expect that these numbers would remain consistent since most proceedings are occurring virtually,” said Gauthier.
The full impact probably won't be known until the end of the year, he said. The court services manager will be monitoring the changes and make every effort to coordinate the escorts with the new logistics. At the end of 2021, Gauthier will provide a report on the impact of the changes, including associated costs, to the board.
