Pubdate: Sat, 18 Aug 2007 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2007 Calgary Herald Contact: http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Author: Craig Burrows Note: Craig Burrows is a member of the Calgary police Commission and Alderman for Ward 6. ONLY TEAMWORK CAN FIX PROBLEM A lot has been said recently about our Police Service and the perception of our city's safety. Over the past few weeks, Calgarians have been focused on who's to blame and who's going to fix it. Unfortunately, one person or organization will not solve our current problems. Simply throwing dollars or police officers at the problem will not solve the long-term issue. It requires a multi-faceted solution to a complex problem. It will require teamwork from our city council, the province, the federal government, and the police. Fighting crime is like fighting cancer, the battle is best won at prevention. There are two ways to clean up our city, one is prevention and one is enforcement. The prevention is focused on addiction, family violence, and social bad behaviour. The enforcement is better use of police resources and laws that will deter gang and organized crime. The issues facing the CPS are not unique to policing. The issues are easily recognizable -- morale, recruitment & retention, and deployment of resources. The new chief's success will be his/her's ability to react quickly to these issues. The Police Service and Commission need to focus on the better use of resource dollars and personnel. If the issue is a lack of personnel, then deployment of your resources is critical for success. We need to declare that front line officers are our No. 1 priority. We need to focus on crime where crime is and follow it where it goes. We can add more capacity simply by better use of other peace officers, namely bylaw. We can take non essential services like graffiti, minor traffic accidents and other crime reports and delegate them to Bylaw. This will free up front line officers to focus on preventative crime versus reactive. It's also a great way to recruit bylaw officers to become Police officers. CPTED (a process that police officers review safety features of building permits) should be the responsibility of developers, not police. As far as dollars, we should be investing in new technologies to improve safety and effectiveness of our front-line officers. Cities like New York and London invested in CCTV (closed circuit TV), a Real Time Crime Centre, digital 911 calls that go directly to first responders, and video/digital recording for police cruisers. This technology has helped in the fight against crime by providing vital information and surveillance to the authorities. City Council needs to support our Police Service and reaffirm our pride in our officers. Council needs to provide funding for resources and create bylaws that will help police keep our city safe. I will be asking in September for Council to review public safety on LRT platforms and Plus-15 walkways. Council needs to have a zero tolerance towards bad behaviour and petty crimes like graffiti and loitering. The province needs to immediately address the issue of addiction. Petty crime and physical violence is leading to the unsafe feeling Calgarians have about their city. Instead of putting them in jail or prison, give them a chance to clean up by forcing them into mandatory addiction centres if they won't go voluntarily. It's time for the province to step up to domestic violence by creating a Collaborative Centre to address sexual and domestic violence. These victims are your future addicts, homeless, and lost souls. Alberta leads the nation in domestic violence and Calgary Police responded to over 11,000 domestic calls last year. A sad statistic that in Calgary there are as many domestic homicides as murders by gangs. The federal government needs to end this legal system and bring back a justice system. Appoint judges that don't believe in the current "catch and release" program. If you can't recall judges, impose minimum sentences. Drug dealers and people using weapons in an offence go directly to prison. Review the Charter of Rights that give aggressive panhandlers the right to intimidate you for your money. Give police more authority to go after these petty thugs. Calgary is now a big city. Let's not live in denial. We can learn from other metropolitan cities like New York, London, or Toronto. We need to do a better job in learning, anticipating, and adapting to an ever changing environment. The solution is easy, the execution will be difficult. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake