There’s no doubt that the #1 issue of concern among Red Deerians today is Community Safety and Security. Red Deer currently ranks #2 in THE COUNTRY for overall crime, with a Crime Severity Index (CSI) of 182 (compared to the national average of 69.7). It’s top of mind for everyone across the board, and is so in large measure, because we’ve all witnessed the rise in local property crime in particular over the past few years, and that sense of being personally violated is alarming.

People in our community are looking for leadership and direction on this particular issue, as paramount in the collective mindset of the electorate – and there are things that can and MUST be done in order to reduce both the frequency and severity of crime in Red Deer.

Having served on Council from 2001-2004, I understand that there’s no one magic bullet to tackling crime. There just isn’t. What is needed is a multi-pronged approach to this broad issue that intersects all levels of government. Although the problem lives in our back yard, we at the municipal level don’t have all the resources, or even the jurisdiction at times, to address every angle of the issue – because it’s a complex, multi-faceted problem. So much of the recent uptick in crime is fueled by the opiate addiction crisis, for example, which falls under the province’s purview, or homelessness, which intersects both federal and provincial authority.

However, there are things that can and MUST be done at the local level in order to bring our crime rates down.

So here’s my Platform on Community Safety & Security:

1. We need intentional leadership to direct K-Division and local resources to identified, targeted needs: so YES, more officers on our streets, but also more POLICE VISIBILITY, and more police INTERFACE with ordinary citizens & community groups to engage and inform. Utilize “NOTIFY RED DEER” to interface as needed.

2. Citizens benefit by personal police connection to direct how we can become part of the solution (ie: report ALL crime, Neighbourhood Watch, Citzens on Patrol, regular meetings with neighbours in our subdivisions (attended by police) to be each other’s eyes and ears on the streets, etc).

3. Transfer some of the bureaucratic & paperwork burden from trained officers to increased clerical staff (at significantly less expense), to free up officers to maintain a greater police presence on our streets.

4. More focus on innovative crime fighting strategies like ALERT, and Project Pinpoint, so that we work SMARTER, in addition to working harder. Speaking of working smarter, listen to this story …

Over a period of 8 years, Mayor Rudy Giuliani utilized the highly successful COMPSTAT program in New York City, to reduce murders in that city by nearly 70% and overall crime by about 65%! The impact of Compstat was immediate and revolutionary: major crimes fell 12.3% from 1993 to 1994. Murders and robberies dropped 17.9% and 15.5% respectively over that same initial first year.

The principle behind Compstat is simple: collect and analyze crime stats DAILY to identify patterns and potential problems. Transmit that data to a map of the city that shows geographical concentrations of criminal activity and sorts them out by hour of the day, type of crime, and day of the week. Produce weekly summaries to reflect trends over time, and THEN assign officers and resources to the targeted areas in a proactive manner. Other cities throughout the States have since implemented Compstat with similar results.

So, what can we learn from this?

I believe we should absolutely look to implement the simple, but rigorous tenets of Compstat to address the crime in our community, rather than looking to reinvent the wheel – or merely “throwing more officers at the problem.” It may take some organizational effort and considerable “buy in” on several levels to bring our current operations on board, but if we’re serious about fighting crime, we have to be willing to do some things differently.

5. I also believe we should examine the future viability of a “hybrid” police service, consisting of a primary Municipal force, with an ongoing RCMP contract to address certain types of crime (drug trade and organized crime, etc.). There are significant benefits to having a municipal force, including local officers who stay long term in the city and are deeply rooted and vested in the community, as well as the flexibility to directly hire, train, oversee and govern the force without having to answer to a federal body. However, with the current state of crime in in our community, I don’t believe that now is the time to make a switch over to a new policing model.

At the moment, we need to be able to increase capacity and efficiency in our policing model, and the simple fact is the RCMP is considerably less expensive to operate per officer than a municipal force – not to mention the infrastructure and assets (fleet, equipment, uniforms, weapons, etc) we would have to fund on our own were we to set up a municipal force. Not that it can’t or shouldn’t be done – the timing is just not right at the present time.

Right now, we need the FOCUS, CAPACITY, and FLEXIBILITY of our existing model to swiftly address the crime spike in our community – then we can examine phasing into a “hybrid” service once we’ve achieved manifest results on that front.

For more of my campaign ideas, please visit my VoteVesna Facebook page, or contact me at: 403-505-1172 (cell) or [email protected]. Thank you.

Experience matters.

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