The Windsor Police Chief says he has no concerns in terms of the SafePoint Consumption and Treatment Services site opening its doors.
During the Windsor Police board meeting on Thursday, Chief Jason Bellaire says the CTS site is a health strategy, but that police will participate and help around the site.
The site, located at Wyandotte Street East at Goyeau Street downtown, will have security inside of the building at all times, but Bellaire says Windsor Police are in contact with the security company to ensure that everyone is safe.
Bellaire says he has no concerns with the site.
"We're willing to work with everyone in our health industry here to try and get the people who are struggling with these issues connected to the services that they need. And this is just one of the ways that we're going to be doing that. So, no, I don't have any concerns."
He says police are unsure what it's going to look like until things 'get going'.
"Quite frankly, all of the example that were thrown in the mix from all of the other municipalities, the details were always very murky on both sides. So you may have people who were pro, and people who were against but the fact remains that we rely on our subject matter experts here in the City of Windsor and in our region who are specializing in health and medical to make those decisions," Bellaire says. "And we're here to support them to make sure that they have a safe environment and that the environment in the area is safe as well."
Bellaire says police are already very present in the area where the site is located.
"They are excellent at what they do, they are already working with the security teams there, they're already coordinating to make sure that we have what we need there. We were asked to increase police presence in the downtown core on many occasions, so this is not something that's unusual for us, it's no call for alarm."
SafePoint will open its doors on Wednesday, April 26 and will be open 7-days a week from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Another community open house of the site will be held today from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. for the public to learn more about the services being provided.