Pubdate: Fri, 18 Nov 2005
Source: Lindsay This Week (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 Lindsay This Week
Contact:  http://www.lindsaythisweek.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2213
Author: Mary Riley

POLICE CHIEF HAGARTY HOPING TO BUILD ON COMMUNITY TIES

Kawartha Lakes Police Chief John Hagarty doesn't pull any punches when
he talks about what he thinks are priorities as the Lindsay force's
new chief.

While he's only been on the job for about two weeks, Chief Hagarty's
long career in policing and experience as chief of the Stratford
Police Service has made the transition easier.

Already, he says he has a feel for what needs to happen in Lindsay,
and he does not shy away from what he believes are important issues.

"It's still early, but I've been on a few ride-alongs with the
officers," he said. "They've showed me some of the trouble spots;
areas they are called to often that put a strain on resources. The
population here, they tell me, is about 23,000 to 26,000, even though
the sign says 17,000. There are a lot of similarities between here and
Stratford, geographically and demographically."

Chief Hagarty said two of his top priorities will be getting drugs
"off the streets and out of the high schools" and making sure criminal
gangs don't come to Lindsay.

"We don't have gangs here, not like the Bloods and Crips (organized
criminal gangs in other cities)," he said. "We have gang wannabes. But
that comes from the bombardment our children have had in the media.
Movies, video games - it's a culture of graphic violence. We have to
expect that desensitization will have an affect on children. I'm not
saying violent movies or games will make a kid violent. But I'm
convinced that when parents lobbied to get warnings and age ratings
put on, it was so you'd know what your child was dealing with. A lot
of this stuff simply glorifies criminal behaviour. It feeds into the
shock value of our entertainment, and we shouldn't be surprised at the
resulting violence in our culture."

He added he believes part of the reason children as young as 11 or 12
are committing serious crimes is because in the gaming world "there
are no consequences."

"When I played cops and robbers, or cowboys and Indians as a little
kid, sometimes the guy would 'die' if I 'shot' him and sometimes he
didn't," he said. "But, if I did something to [physically] hurt
another kid, and that kid went home and told his parents, my parents
would get a phone call. And John would have to face the consequences.
Now, kids play these games [electronically] and get points for every
person they kill or building they blow up. They don't have
consequences.

"It happened in the Columbine shootings. Those boys had a problem with
the jocks at the school. So, they went in and shot the jocks who had
tormented them. But they kept on shooting. They didn't stop shooting,
even though they had achieved what they went to do, which was kill the
jocks. Why didn't they stop?"

While he concedes those more serious crimes, such as bank robberies
and a shooting, have happened in Lindsay in the last year or so, he is
quick to point out that all communities face the same issues when it
comes to crime.

"No community is immune because crime has no borders," he said. "But
we're looking at what's called 'intelligence-led policing'; proactive
policing. It shouldn't be all reactive. But there is no disputing the
fact that a lot of crime, such as theft, is directly related to drugs.
Getting the drugs off the streets will be a priority for sure."

Chief Hagarty said it is also important to maintain a positive
relationship between senior citizens and youth.

"As we get older, we get more fearful of youth," he said. "That's
something that doesn't change. I was going through the archives (in
Stratford) one day, and I noticed a complaint to the police about
young kids racing their horses down the main street. This was in 1870."

"I think it's important to realize 95 per cent of young people are not
into criminal behaviour. Just because they might dress differently,
such as the 'goth' look, they might look a bit scary to older people,
but it doesn't mean they're bad kids. It's only that five per cent."

A strong supporter of community policing, Chief Hagarty said proactive
policing and working together with citizens is the key to keeping
communities safe.

"If we know some of the problem areas the officers are always called
to, we can identify the root cause. Instead of sending officers over
and over to the same trouble, we can sit down with business owners and
try and resolve the problems. I am not singling out a particular
business, but let's say a bar is serving minors or still serving
[liquor] after 2 a.m., it leads to problems."

The chief said the Lindsay force has been around for 150 years and
although he anticipates there might be changes, he insists on keeping
it simple.

"The officers here have done outstanding work in many different
areas," he said. "I am looking forward to working with all of them.
When we sit down with the Board for a review, we'll be looking at what
we're doing that we shouldn't be, and what we aren't doing that we
should be."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin