ABBOTSFORD (NEWS1130) – Abbotsford’s Chief of Police says it’s time to have an uncomfortable debate over what to do with alcoholics who are arrested over and over again.

“The question has to be is it time to consider providing treatment for those people that isn’t voluntary?” Bob Rich tells News1130.

“We have people that get arrested [for being drunk in public] over 200 times. They are constantly getting intoxicated, they are on our streets, and they are unable to care for themselves. They represent a risk to themselves and sometimes to others. All we do is hold them for four hours and then send them back out onto the street in the same basic condition.”

Rich points to the Frank Paul case as an example of why the current way of dealing with chronic alcoholics needs to be reviewed.

Paul died of hypothermia in 1998 in an alley after he’d spent time in the drunk tank in Vancouver.

The Vancouver Police Department issued an apology more than a decade later, following an inquiry into his death.

“The VPD admits errors were made in that case, but if you’re going to arrest somebody again and again, eventually you’re probably going to make a mistake around their safety,” says Rich.

“So there’s more to it than just the police making a mistake with Frank Paul. Are we as a society doing the right thing? It’s really not that different than the debate we’re now having about mental health.”

Rich raised the issue with the BC government as it reviews the province’s liquor laws.