Sudbury's downtown to have larger presence of police, security officers, mayor says

Sudbury's mayor says it's clear that people are in crisis in the city's downtown. Brian Bigger made the comments Tuesday, after a meeting with community partners to devise an immediate action plan in the wake of increased violence and deaths in the area.

Bigger says police will assemble a team of 12 officers that will focus on prevention, intervention and enforcement in the downtown. He adds there will be other immediate measures to address issues in the city's core.

"I've asked staff to immediately look at establishing a crew that would work in the downtown, both on scheduled maintenance and garbage pickup and be on call to resolve issues and challenges as they come up," he said.

And Bigger says he is pushing ahead with more security for the area.

"Council had already, during our budget process, approved a downtown security pilot that proposed to hire additional security staff in and around the Cedar Street and transit terminal area — and so I asked staff to proceed with that."

He said they will also be accelerating the LED light change-out project, providing better illumination on city streets.

Bigger says community leaders will have a second meeting next week. They are looking for other partners to join the team, such as Indigenous community members and hospital representatives.

Tuesday's meeting involved several city councillors, staff, police and health unit officials, mental health workers, business representatives, among others. The hour-long virtual gathering touched on what the community can do to prevent people from falling into difficult circumstances, particularly now, as the pandemic "has amplified this situation."

In addition to committing to some immediate measures, the mayor's new "action team" will continue to identify and put in place supports needed in dealing with the downtown's predicament.

"It's clear that all of our partners, everyone on the phone, they felt for the people and their families and the loved ones who have been victims of suicide, victims of overdose in our community," Bigger said.

"And so public safety is vital to all with these extraordinary times [and] I do believe that this is a time for extraordinary measures. I believe there was general agreement that there's a need for long-term housing, with an ability to support people with complex challenges of mental health and addictions at the same time. And so that's something that I think will be a long-term solution that we will all explore."