The City of Kamloops is hoping that a new report from B.C.’s police watchdog will lead to progress in plans to build a sobering centre in the City.

During Tuesday’s council meeting, Councillor Nancy Bepple asked if the IIO report that said medical professionals and not Mounties or jail guards should be caring for intoxicated people in custody could lead to some progress in the City.

“This council has indicated support for a sobering centre here, but its not just up to council to make it happen,” Bepple said. “Will we be able to leverage the report from IIO BC to make some headway into what we want here in Kamloops?”

In the report, IIO BC Chief Civlian Director Ronald MacDonald concluded that RCMP officers in Williams Lake were not negligent in failing to call an ambulance for a man who went into “withdrawal” during his two days in cells last November.

“Too many people die in police custody, often through no fault of the police,” MacDonald said.

“The care of intoxicated persons should not be a police responsibility. It is a health care issue. It is time for government to take steps to facilitate the changes necessary to ensure intoxicated persons who need care receive it from trained health care professionals.”

Deputy Kamloops CAO Byron McCorkell told Bepple the City has been asking for a sobering centre for a number of years.

“We’ve been working on the sobering conversation since back when Superintendent Lecky was here,” he said. “Definitely, this resolve will help that conversation.”

“We have a consultant working with the intent to bring a business case forward in December. Hopefully, based upon these comments we should be successful.”

The City of Kamloops first submitted a business case for a sobering centre to the Ministry of Health in March of 2016, though nothing came of that request.

“You heard in conversations locally as well that there’s support within our institutions here, so we’re very hopeful that we’ll finally see six years of work come to fruition with a sobering centre,” McCorkell added.

A sobering centre is meant to provide a medically supervised place for people to come down from their most recent stint with drugs or alcohol, as an alternative to locking someone up overnight or having the medical system take care of them.

People taken to these facilities are given information and guidance on seeking longer-term treatment when they check out.

It remains unclear at this point where any potential sobering centre in Kamloops could be located.

The previous business case identified the then-Phoenix Centre [now Day One Society] as a likely location, given its proximity to the southwest of Royal Inland Hospital on 3rd Avenue.

Sobering Centers are currently active in five other B.C. communities, including Victoria, Campbell River, Surrey, Duncan, and Prince George.

– With files from Paul James