TAS
Senior Member
Is that on the politicians or is that on the police? Or both?
Do police still not have the resources they require?
Politicians don't direct police how to do their operations do they?
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Downtown Crime
- Thread starter Stevey_G
- Start date
Is that on the politicians or is that on the police? Or both?
Do police still not have the resources they require?
Politicians don't direct police how to do their operations do they?
IanO
Superstar
Yup. In most major cities you see beat cops on every 2nd or 3rd corner and it's a welcome presence.
MisterSartorial
New Member
Agreed. I see beat cops downtown so rarely that I actually gasped once when I saw them a while back. Now that it's warm out I have seen them a couple of times on bicycles at least, but it would be nice to see more presence on the street instead of 5-7 officers all in ECC.
IanO
Superstar
The problem I have with the bike cops is that they are often seen in groups of 4-6, even 8. Unsure if they were training or heading somewhere, but one would assume that groups of 2 would be more effective...
David A
Senior Member
I think more accurately, they drive by quickly in cars on the way to something else so they don't really notice what is going on.
We had a good idea years ago with community police stations open to the public and police regularly in the community. It seems to have fallen by the wayside, maybe as some sort of false economy and now we have tons of problems, the cost and burden of which is mostly borne by businesses and residents in the area.
Airboy
Senior Member
The training they have is for teams of 2. But I see them together in larger group. I do not know what or who does the training now but I helped train the first Calgary units and worked with EPS for 2 years. After about 5 years the CPS found that the bike cops high High arrest rates. And on one training day in the city core we saw quite a few offense being committed. Because the Perps did not expect to see cops on bikes. I suspect that has changed a lot. But having them around does still help.
Airboy
Senior Member
Watching another valley fire from my office window. This time just below the houses near the old timers cabin. Right down to the river.
IanO
Superstar
Just back from 3 days in Halifax.
A night and day experience to say the least compared to Edmonton and Calgary.
We stayed Downtown and walked ~20k steps a day covering most of the central part of the town; I had to confirm with my better half to ensure that my numbers were correct and indeed they were.
We were asked for change twice, quite nicely I might add.
We saw almost zero open hard drug use... possibly once in 72hrs and literally no needles or pipes.
We saw very few, maybe 2-3 folks who were deep into something and clearly needing assistance of some kind.
We saw a couple broken windows and very little overall damage to public infrastructure.
We don't recall feces or smells of urine in many of the vestibules.
Not once were either of us threatened nor feeling uncomfortable given the amount of 'normalized' activity in the area.
We didn't see the usual groups of BMX/backpack folks going into parkades or being aggressive in public areas.
My better half felt comfortable walking back alone post-dinner.
It was remarkably pleasant, comfortable and encouraging that an urban core can be like that in this day and age.
It also reminded me how far cities in Alberta (among others) have fallen.
A night and day experience to say the least compared to Edmonton and Calgary.
We stayed Downtown and walked ~20k steps a day covering most of the central part of the town; I had to confirm with my better half to ensure that my numbers were correct and indeed they were.
We were asked for change twice, quite nicely I might add.
We saw almost zero open hard drug use... possibly once in 72hrs and literally no needles or pipes.
We saw very few, maybe 2-3 folks who were deep into something and clearly needing assistance of some kind.
We saw a couple broken windows and very little overall damage to public infrastructure.
We don't recall feces or smells of urine in many of the vestibules.
Not once were either of us threatened nor feeling uncomfortable given the amount of 'normalized' activity in the area.
We didn't see the usual groups of BMX/backpack folks going into parkades or being aggressive in public areas.
My better half felt comfortable walking back alone post-dinner.
It was remarkably pleasant, comfortable and encouraging that an urban core can be like that in this day and age.
It also reminded me how far cities in Alberta (among others) have fallen.
Avenuer
Senior Member
Halifax isn’t a good comparison to Edmonton or Calgary - a third the size of either and Nova Scotia has very different demographics than the prairie provinces. It’s a great city no doubt but has never had to cope with the social pressures experienced by Edmonton or Calgary.
MacLac
Senior Member
That city doesn’t have a fraction the size of an indigenous population compared to us either…..so
IanO
Superstar
Disagree. Any major urban centre is a good comparison.
Stevey_G
Active Member
I don't think that's the case if one is looking for evidence-backed solutions to our problems. The best thing we can do is find cities with similar socio-economic conditions, geography, history, climate, and locations/investment in homeless services and start correlating with those cities on what succeeds and fails when it comes to dealing with crime and the homeless.
Also, in regard to comments made above, I know the big talk right now is to invest more in policing, but our city already spends 17 percent of the entire city budget on police services. I'd say we're less at the point of being underfunded and more at the point of not recognizing where to allocate resources.
ChazYEG
Senior Member
As pointed out, Halifax is far too small, with a different ethnical, cultural and historical backgrounds.
It doesn't mean we can't take some lessons, especially in terms of vibrancy, developing the urban environment, etc. But as for crime, it just does not make ANY sense to compare.
IanO
Superstar
Vis a vis for a visitor experience or investor it ABSOLUTELY does make sense.
Halifax is a major service centre for the area, has an international airport, major port, is a major tourism destination and centre of business and government... with a significant population of 400k+.
Most folks are not going to do a deep dive into 'ethnical, cultural and historical backgrounds', but rather take home (and more importantly share) how the experience was, did they feel safe/comfortable, was it a pleasant environment to explore.
As mentioned, the experience was truly night and day.
Halifax is a major service centre for the area, has an international airport, major port, is a major tourism destination and centre of business and government... with a significant population of 400k+.
Most folks are not going to do a deep dive into 'ethnical, cultural and historical backgrounds', but rather take home (and more importantly share) how the experience was, did they feel safe/comfortable, was it a pleasant environment to explore.
As mentioned, the experience was truly night and day.
ChazYEG
Senior Member
But visitors are not the ones making the decisions that will lead to a good experience. We can aim for the experience, but the path there will be vastly different.