By Bre McAdam

Government budgets money for HUB/COR expansion in Sask

Mar 26, 2014 | 6:42 AM

The provincial government is financing a unique approach to reducing crime.

It set aside $860,000 in the 2014/15 budget to help fund 10 existing and newly established HUBs and two new CORs in the province.

They're both round table groups comprised of police, health-care professionals and social service workers who collaborate to find holistic ways to reduce crime.

HUBs are made up of front-line workers who provide immediate, short-term solutions for at-risk people and their families. That information is then given to a Centre of Responsibility–or COR — which identifies any gaps and develops long-term solutions to crime reduction explained Janice Wilby, communications consultant with the ministry of justice.

“It's a new approach to community safety. So we can't just arrest our way out of crime anymore, we have to change the way we're doing things. The Building Partnerships to Reduce Crime approach focuses on prevention, intervention and suppression … to help reduce crime and victimization,” Wilby said.

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HUBs have been implemented in Saskatoon, Regina, Price Albert, North Battleford, Yorkton, La Ronge, Moose Jaw, Estevan/Weyburn, Nipawin, Lloydminster and Swift Current. Prince Albert was the first location to receive a HUB in 2011, and is currently the only community that has a COR.

Wilby said the government hasn't decided where the two new CORs will go, but Police Chief Clive Weighill would love to see one of them in Saskatoon.

“Probably we're going to end up with two or three HUBs in a city the size of Saskatoon, so a Centre of Responsibility is going to be a real need,” Weighill said.

The provincial government aims to have the new CORs in place by 2015.

According to Weighill, Saskatoon's HUB will start on April 2.

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