EPS stabilization centre has admitted 98 people in first three and a half weeks

Edmonton police have opened a six-bed stabilization centre in the old EPS headquarters to provide a place for officers to take people in crisis rather than leaving them on the streets.

In three and a half weeks since opening in September, the facility has admitted 98 people. Twelve have been transferred to the Addiction Recovery Centre at Alberta Hospital Edmonton, typically within 24 hours of arrival.

The centre is a partnership between Edmonton Police Service, Recovery Alberta, Mental Health and Addictions (provincial government), and Housing the Homeless. It represents a departure from the approach of the former police leadership, which dismantled occupied encampments during the winter of 2024.

"Those are 12 people that would still be on the street today," EPS Chief Warren Driechel said of the transfers.

Driechel framed the centre as a tool for de-escalation and connection to services. "I actually truly believe people want help. They just don't know they need help at the time. And so the goal of this, what we're working on, is like to slow things down a bit, provide all our frontline workers a place to take people, and then get them stabilized to a point where we're going to have a higher rate of success in providing services to them," Driechel said.

The numbers highlight the scale of the challenge Edmonton faces. One individual on the streets has been revived from overdose more than 400 times. The Edmonton region is tracking an increase in opioid deaths rather than a reduction, despite other recovery infrastructure including a navigation centre, Hope Shelter with medically-assisted beds, and recovery centres around the province with therapeutic living units.

The facility offers a controlled space where police can bring people experiencing addiction, mental health crises, or both — buying time for assessment and connection to next steps rather than cycling them back onto the street.