City of Winnipeg crime strategy panned by neighbourhood activist
City would hire new bureaucract and take 2 years to complete crime reduction policy passed in 2008
A City of Winnipeg plan to create a community safety and well-being action plan is drawing criticism from a prominent neighbourhood activist.
A report presented to the city's executive policy committee Wednesday recommends establishing and recruiting for a new "LiveSafe community safety and well-being position" in Winnipeg's community development division.
The recommendation at EPC is to give the bureaucrat in the newly created position 24 months to create policies that promote an integrated crime prevention strategy and create "partnerships with citizens, neighbourhoods, community organizations, business and other levels of government."
Sel Burrows, one of the founders of the Point Douglas Powerline, told the committee "there is no need for a new bureaucracy nor to wait 24 months for a plan."
LiveSafe was a crime prevention policy passed by city council in 2008, but the report in front of the executive committee acknowledges its "framework has not been fully realized."
Both the two-year timeline and the addition of a staff person to pursue the policy prompted Burrows to come to city hall to challenge the report.
[It's] 200 pages long [and] full of bureaucratic bafflegab. I'm being polite," Burrows told the committee. "Say no to the report."
Burrows says the city could use existing resources and staff in its community development branch to bolster existing and fledgling neighbourhood groups interested in easing crime problems.
"To mobilize the good people who live in the communities — inner-city communities — to identify where the drug dealers are, identify where the men who are beating up women are and bring in support and action — it's not difficult," Burrows told reporters.
That kind of strategy would be far less expensive than paying a new city staff person to work "8:30 to 4:30 developing a plan for the next two years," Burrows said.
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Mayor Brian Bowman said he'd decline to comment on Burrows's criticism until he'd had a chance to hear it personally, but said he has a lot of respect for the Point Douglas activist.
The mayor pointed to several initiatives where he felt the city was actively engaged on crime reduction.
"We've never invested more in policing in the city's history — something that we've faced significant criticism for, by those that want to defund or eliminate a police service," Bowman told reporters during a break from the EPC meeting.
"We are also investing strategically in programs where we try to better connect people with the services they need at the right time."
Bowman pointed to the city's participation with the provincial government in a strategy to address illicit drug use and support for the Downtown Community Safety Partnership, which runs patrols in the city centre.
During the committee meeting, Burrows was asked by Coun. Sherri Rollins (Fort Rouge-East Fort Garry) if he agreed with some of the general principles in the report — including community engagement, inclusiveness, accessibility and anti-oppression and decolonization strategies — provided they are guided by concrete actions.
"If principles aren't brought into action, they are useless," Burrows responded.
