Community safety.

Safety is an issue that has come up a lot as I’ve been knocking on doors across O-day’min. Many have shared that they no longer visit downtown because they feel unsafe on the streets, and businesses across the ward have struggled to manage vandalism and aggressive behaviour. I’ve also heard from residents who no longer feel comfortable using local parks and trails due to adjacent encampments, and face fears of uncontrolled fires sweeping through the river valley. Property theft and damage have also made people feel less safe in their community. O-day’min residents facing homelessness also lack the basic safety of home, and the opioid crisis has had devastating impacts both for those who have experienced and witnessed overdoses.    

The approaches we’ve traditionally used in our efforts to make our communities safe have typically been more reactive than proactive. I believe that to make meaningful change in community safety and wellness, we need to respond differently in the moment, and do more to tackle the root causes of disorder in our communities. 

Immediate responses

Right now, one third of the calls to police in Edmonton are for people in distress, rather than calls about criminal activity. It’s unfair to put our police into situations they’re not equipped for, and it reduces police capacity to deal with the criminal issues they’re trained for - including the organized property theft I’m hearing about across the ward. This approach also doesn’t get us the results we need as the response is focused on what’s happening in the moment, not the contributing patterns or conditions that gave rise to the situation - and will likely do so again. 

When non-criminal incidents affecting the safety of O-day’min residents occur, I believe we need to respond with people centred, trauma informed services. I am a champion of Community Safety and Outreach teams made up of social and mental health workers who can quickly and effectively respond to these situations. These types of teams are trained to deal specifically with people in distress and can both help de-escalate situations in the moment, and also follow through with connecting people to the services they need. We have existing models that work in this way, including the 211 Crisis Diversion Team.

I’m committed to reallocating some of our existing police resources to scale up these successful alternative models of crisis intervention and increase the number of Indigenous-led organizations that are involved in responding. My goal would be to reach a 5 minute response time so that no one in O-day’min is left to deal with these issues on their own. I am also passionate about ensuring that all neighbourhoods in the community receive the same level of service, and that all residents can rely on these response teams. 

We also have to ensure that police receive trauma-informed intervention training. It is critical to understand the impacts of the trauma that so many street-involved individuals have experienced in order to facilitate healing and ensure that interactions with the police don’t result in further harm that will most likely cause more incidents in the future.

Systemic solutions

In addition to responding to incidents, there’s so much we can do to change the processes that lead people to be involved in crime, disorder, and the informal economy.  Initiatives like REACH Edmonton, Safer McCauley, and the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative are doing incredible work to make our communities safer by coordinating between agencies and programs, and using evidence to focus resources effectively. 

I’m also a firm believer in harm-reduction and believe the City can play a role by de-prioritizing personal drug possession charges and removing regulatory barriers to safe injection sites. I would further ensure that City staff work closely with their counterparts at the Provincial level to advocate for safe consumption sites - this approach will help keep politics out of the conversation and hopefully focus more on evidenced based decision making. Mental health supports are also essential to addressing the underlying cause of addictions and are something I would prioritize.

As a long-time housing advocate, I believe that one of the most effective and proactive approaches to increasing community safety is to provide housing for all Edmontonians. Bridge housing is an exceptionally effective way to help transition those currently experiencing homelessness into permanent housing with appropriate supports, and ongoing investment in permanent supportive and affordable housing are key to a long term solution. You can read more about my thoughts on ending homelessness in Edmonton in my earlier blog post.

By changing the way we think about safety, I believe we can fundamentally transform our communities to be places of security and well-being for all.