The Town of St. Paul has been entertaining a proposal to hire a firm, for a security officer to patrol the streets of town, seven nights a week.
Last week, council and chamber members heard a little more about the proposal, which is estimated to cost almost $90,000 a year.
It’s little wonder that town council and business people are frustrated when, despite their best effort to improve storefronts or sidewalks, thoughtless idiots come around and within minutes, destroy or vandalize property for fun or simply out of boredom.
Everyone is keen to find ways to combat crime, whether that means hiring more RCMP or peace officers, supporting the local Citizens on Patrol program, installing more security cameras, hiring a security firm or other possibilities.
While crime overall has generally declined over the past 10 years in Canada, costs have not, and Canada is recorded as having among the highest costs of crime per capita of all compared countries, second only to the United States.
Adding cameras and surveillance units only adds to these costs. As one business person noted at council, even when cameras are successful in catching a perpetrator, he/she may end up getting little more than a slap on the wrist.
However research shows cameras and security services can play a role in curbing crime and can also have a positive cost-benefit to municipalities.
But when the Journal posed the question of hiring a security firm to its Facebook followers, response was largely critical of such a move, with people calling it a “band aid” solution or stating it wouldn’t improve matters.
Several people supported a preventative, rather than reactive, method of dealing with crime. This could include developing programs to help families and children most at risk of being involved in crime or being the victims of crime themselves, improving public transport, improving street lighting, fighting urban decay, etc. Some of this work is already ongoing with the town and groups such as Champions for Change.
Clear in one thing is that the business community is just one of the parties that should be consulted on crime-fighting measures, alongside community organizations and residents. We all live here - we all need to discuss and work together to find ways to make our communities safer.
