By Shane O'Neill

Mayoral candidates talk crime ahead of next month’s election

Sep 26, 2016 | 2:00 PM

Ask residents of Prince Albert what their major concerns are going into October’s election, and it’s likely crime is of the top concerns. 

2015 crime statistics, compiled by the Prince Albert Police Service, show an 11.2 per cent increase in the total number of reported incidents. 

Police statistics show 30 per cent of offenses committed in P.A. are by individuals living in another town prompting Mayor Greg Dionne to ask for four additional police officers.

paNOW reached out to the four candidates vying for the position of mayor to gauge their opinions on crime in the city and how they would address the issue if elected.

Conrad Burns, Greg Dionne, Josh Morrow and Martin Ring each said the number of reported crimes in the city is a concern. They all expressed support for the current administration’s plan to lobby the provincial government for an additional four officers.

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“We have to continue that very positive, respectful dialogue with the provincial government,” Ring said.

Law enforcement is not the only way for city officials to address crime. According to the candidates, poverty, homelessness and addiction draw on the available resources of P.A. police and should be considered as part of the greater strategy in tackling crime.  

“We have to open these doors, get the people that are creating these changes to sit down together and look at realistic, goal-driven, and individual based plans to help people overcome [these issues],” Burns said.

Prince Albert’s Community Mobilization agency operates two branches to help address social causes of crime.

The HUB meets regularly to address specific situations, provide a coordinated response and mobilize resources to help high-risk people in the community. The Centre of Responsibility (COR) focuses on longer-term community goals and initiatives. The agency is composed of representatives from different government and social agencies, as well as members of the police services committee.

Martin Ring sat on the police services committee until 2012. All candidates said the HUB and COR are crucial to effectively addressing crime.

If re-elected, Mayor Dionne said he would “make sure that our police force has the equipment and the tools and that’s why we’ve asked, just recently, for the government to fund for more officers for the outside crime,” he explained, “but it’s to work with the HUB and the COR, the social services and the schools [as well].”

Each candidate said a multi-faceted approach is what would best help Prince Albert tackle crime.

However, policing is already the city’s biggest budget item and Burns and Morrow said innovative thinking is needed.

Morrow said a discussion will help people in the community speak up and take responsibility to help make Prince Albert safe.

“We need everybody on board with this,” he said. “We all need to work together to make Prince Albert a safer place and that’s something I feel very strongly about.”

Ultimately, each candidate said the perception of crime in the community portrays Prince Albert as more violent and dangerous than the statistics say. Morrow believed unreported incidents and the visibility of some isolated incidents could lead residents to believe that crime in the city is more frequent than the numbers suggest.

Prince Albert goes to polls on October 26.

shane.oneill@panow.com

On Twitter: @stroneill