The successful Safe Community Situation Table program is expanding in the communities of North Cowichan and Duncan to use a collaborative, early-intervention approach to address complex social challenges by delivering faster access to services for people at high risk of harm, victimization or committing crime to survive.

Safe Community Situation Tables bring together front-line workers from the public-safety, health and social-service sectors to identify, intervene and connect at-risk people with the social services, housing or mental-health and addictions care they need, before they experience a negative or traumatic event. This proven public-safety model is now active in 36 communities in B.C. and is used in jurisdictions across Canada. Results have shown it lowered the risk in 70% of the interventions held last year.

“Safe Community Situation Tables ensure people remain our focus as we work to keep people safe and communities strong,” said Mike Farnworth, Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General. “By combining front-line workers’ expertise, the tables enhance our capacity to respond to community-safety challenges by swiftly connecting individuals to services to help break the cycle of crime by getting at the root causes.”

The North Cowichan/Duncan Table, known as the Cowichan Interagency Response Team (CIRT), launched in 2021 and includes partner agencies from the health, law enforcement, education, human services and non-profit sectors. The partners meet on a weekly basis to address issues in their community, such as mental-health challenges and addictions, homelessness, poverty, violent repeat offending and survival crime.

Situation tables provide a structured, collaborative approach to managing complex or urgent circumstances by bringing together key groups and using systematic processes to mitigate risk and develop action plans to respond more effectively and efficiently to the needs of each individual. Furthermore, aggregate data analysis helps policymakers assess gaps and risks in their local communities.

“The expansion of the Cowichan Interagency Response Team demonstrates the effectiveness of early intervention in keeping our communities safe” said Doug Routley, MLA for Nanaimo-North Cowichan. “By connecting at-risk individuals to essential services like housing, mental health support, and addiction care, we are addressing root causes before they escalate into more serious issues. This collaborative approach is key to building a safer, healthier North Cowichan for everyone.”

The tables are considered a best practice for improving community safety and well-being by enabling community front-line workers to:

• proactively identify risks through real-time information sharing;
• reduce long-term demand on emergency and police resources;
• leverage and co-ordinate existing community assets and relationships between health supports, victim services, and culturally safe support and services;
• plan and deliver collaborative interventions before an incident occurs; and
• reduce increased risk in people’s lives.

The Province is supporting the communities of North Cowichan and Duncan with a $30,000 community safety and well-being grant to provide additional training and support for CIRT. Since 2018, more than $3 million has been provided in grants to B.C. regions and communities to facilitate local Safe Community Situation Tables, Intervention Circles and other related initiatives. There are 46 funded Situation Tables and Intervention Circles in B.C. 36 are operational and 10 more under implementation.

Expanding Safe Community Situation Tables across B.C. advances the Safer Communities Action Plan’s goal of creating safe, healthy communities for everyone. This is one of many actions the Province is taking to keep people safe and communities strong by strengthening enforcement and crime prevention and connecting people to the supports they need to help address root causes.

Quote:

Rob Douglas, mayor, North Cowichan –

“On behalf of the Municipality of North Cowichan, I extend our appreciation to the Province for the grant supporting our situation table. This initiative will enhance collaboration among police, social services and health agencies, allowing us to proactively address public-safety challenges and support vulnerable individuals. Together, we can ensure a safer, more resilient community.”

Quick Facts:

• In March 2021, the Municipality of North Cowichan received a $30,000 grant to implement a Safe Community Situation Table.
• Since 2018, approximately 85% of interventions referred to Situation Tables by police were successfully transferred to more appropriate health or social service agencies, reducing long-term demand on emergency and police resources.
• In 2023-24, 843 interventions discussions were held across the 26 Situation Tables active at that time, a 230% increase from the year before, and 70% of the interventions resulted in lowered risk.
• Individuals identified in discussions had eight risk factors on average, such as unmanaged mental-health concerns, drug abuse, financial hardship, inability to meet own basic needs, or lack of appropriate housing.
• About six community agencies are involved in each intervention discussion, on average, to connect people with all the services they need to lower risk.

Learn More:

For more information about where Situation Tables are in action and how they help keep people safe and communities strong, visit: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/SituationTablesBackgrounder.pdf

For more information on situation tables, visit: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/justice/criminal-justice/policing-in-bc/collaborative-public-safety-program/situation-tables

For more information about ways the Province is keeping people and communities safe, visit: https://strongerbc.gov.bc.ca/SafeCommunities

For more information on how we’re building better mental health and addictions care, visit: https://gov.bc.ca/BetterCare