New initiative yields promising results

In the summer of 2025, a new initiative was created as a result of ongoing community concerns and complaints from both residents and businesses about the increased use of drugs in public spaces.
The initiative deployed by the Kingston Police, in partnership with Addictions and Mental Health Services with KFL&A Public Health aimed to combat public drug use through officers interacting with persons using drugs in a public setting. 

Resolution from these interactions were aimed at removing the drugs and paraphernalia from the user, directing users to seek addictions help, and avoiding the need to lay charges.

“The initiative, which was two-fold, aimed to decrease the number of incidents where people were using drugs within public spaces around the City, while offering support and alternatives to laying criminal charges as set out by Federal Legislation that prioritizes treating substance use as a health care issue over a criminal one” said Acting Inspector Dave Geen of the Kingston Police.

‘The Community Engagement Substance Use Support Initiative – Open Air Drug Use’, began on May 23, 2025, and ran until September 3, 2025. The initiative saw officers engaging with individuals who were using drugs in a public setting, these individuals were then arrested, and their drugs and paraphernalia were seized. The individual was then released without charges and offered a referral to support services.

An objective of the initiative is to encourage people who were arrested, to seek addictions help through Additions and Mental Health Services with KFL&A Public Health. When officers conducted an arrest, they would offer a referral to addiction services to the arrested individual. This referral was voluntary, and should the arrested individual accept the referral, the officer would fill out a referral form for the individual which was then submitted to KFL&A. Individuals who declined referral were released with a warning.

During the course of the initiative 102 events were reported resulting in police interacting with 136 individuals and making 104 arrests. Of the 104 arrests made, only five resulted in criminal code charges. These charges all stemmed from other crimes incurred by the suspect during or before the interaction with officers, such as theft and possession of stolen goods.

As a result of this undertaking 24 individuals accepted a referral to services which aim to seek help with addictions. The remaining individuals either declined the referral or were already receiving support services. 

While the initiative was conducted throughout the city, the downtown core and surrounding areas saw the highest number of arrests made, particularly the area around Artillery Park between Montreal Street, Bay Street, Wellington Street, and Queen Street. Other areas sharing a proportion of the arrests is the area captured within Brock Street, Barrie Street, Queen Street, and Sydenham Street.   

During an arrest under this initiative, an officer administered life saving measures on an individual who became unresponsive due to a drug induced overdose. EMS was dispatched while the officer administered NARCAN to the individual who then became responsive. 

Another interaction as a result of this incident lead to the discovery and arrest of an individual who was engaged in trafficking narcotics. The drugs in the individual’s possession were seized and the individual was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Teamwork and partnerships played a large role in the project. The partnership between the Kingston Police and AMHS-KFLA coupled with a department wide collaboration involving multiple units including the CORE Unit, Patrol Unit and Special Services allowed for success. 

The initiative was also consistent with the Kingston Police Strategic Plan on many levels including reducing crime in the downtown core, initiating new community engagement programs to assist disadvantaged people and the transfer of non-criminal and low risk cases to other agencies.

Although the open-air drug use initiative has ended, our officers will continue to engage with individuals observed using drugs in public spaces.  We will continue to use the same principles and guidelines set out by Federal legislation while offering support and referral services.