Chief's Blog

Take Care and be Aware

Over the last two weeks we have observed several tragic traffic collisons that have resulted in the loss of life. As our Collision Reconstruction Unit investigates each of these incidents, as a police service we have been analyzing whether there are any commonalities or trends that may help to explain why the collisions are taking place.

As we examined the collisions we could not come up with any single trend that would help explain why they happened. Each involved different types of movement and at different types of locations.

When it comes to keeping our roads safet, Hamilton Police have a message for citizens:  please, when you are on our roads, be aware of your surroundings.  Whether you are a pedestrian, cyclist or motorist you have to actively watch the traffic movement around you. Be on guard and in a collision prevention mode at all times. Anticipate the movement of people and the traffic around you and take the necessary steps to prevent a collision. Always watch out. 

TAKE CARE AND BE AWARE

Let's keep our roads safe.

 

Hamilton Police 2009 Budget

On Friday, January 23, I presented our 2009 Budget on behalf of our Board to City Counsel. That presentation highlighted that we require an increase of 3.48% or $4,034,780 to maintain our current service levels. This increase has been driven by our labour and fuel costs. Our other spending has been reduced from our previous year.

We have worked very hard on our budget and I want you to know we have the second lowest budget increase when compared to the police budget requests in our province.

Our Police Service is committed to making Hamilton the safest place possible to live in Canada. That said, our partnerships with our citizens and the community is what facilitates crime prevention and reductions in our community.

Each morning I am advised of what has happened across our city and each month I receive written reports on the status of crime on a more broader scale in our neighbourhoods. Divisional Commanders report on criminal activity and yesterday I received an overview on our total crime stats city wide for 2008.

I am pleased to report that we have once again seen a reduction in Break and Enters, Auto Theft and for the first time in many years we have seen a much needed reduction in Robberies. The one area where we are seeing an increase is in Theft from Auto.

Our success is the result of the involvement of our community and the hard work of our officers. Thanks to all involved.

We will be providing our Police Services Board with a detailed report on the crime statistics at our next Board meeting.

Theft from Auto has increased during the year.

It's Worth it

Yesterday I had the opportunity and honour to deliver a presentation at the McMaster University World Conference at our Convention Centre. This year's theme dealt with economic crime and my address related to innovative methods of dealing with crime.

During my presentation I highlighted our use of the Civil Remedies Act (CRA) to take the profit out of crime. The Act allows police services to apply to the Crown Attorney for the seizure and forfeiture of property (usually buildings) that are used in relation to serious crime situations. We have successfully used this Act in relation to the closure of the Sandbar in our downtown core which saw the ultimate forfeiture of $309,000. My key message was police services have to look at innovation in the way they deal with criminals in their communities. The use of the CRA is a tool for police that can't be ignored.

One of the delegates, a student I think, asked me if our Service conducted a cost-benefit analysis on the Sandbar seizure - that it probably cost our Service more than the $309,000 that was seized and how do we rationalize this.  What I replied is that in our analysis of the seizure, yes, it was costly, but our focus was on the dividends that it paid. 

As Police Chief, my priority is keeping this community safe. My officers responded to this address thousands of times.  Two murders had occurred there, as well as countless acts of violence and extensive drug trafficking.  Once the building was seized and boarded up, the impact was felt immediately.   The drug dealing was eliminated, and the quality of life for the area had exponentially improved.  These dividends?  Priceless.

Hamilton Police will continue, as a police service, to partner with agencies to come up with new ways of making our community a safer place. You can count on it.

Drug Court

Many of you may have noticed the media running with a story about the need for a Drug Court here in Hamilton. As some background, there are several Drug Treatment Courts across the country with the court in Toronto being the closest to us. The cost of the court in Toronto is approximately $750,000 per year including support mechanisms that are required to help an offender.

Program statistics illustrate that 40% of offenders graduate and out of those, 86% do not re-offend. Although some may feel those numbers aren't good they are actually great! Simply put, the program has helped reduce crime, the number of victims associated to potential crimes and as importantly, it has helped people break the cycle of addiction and resume a healthy and productive life.

Police Services across our country often respond to symptoms of a problem. In these instances, crime is a symptom of a problem, an addiction. Programs, like Drug Court, where the justice system, support agencies and the police come together to help communities in addressing addiction related crime are a good use of our resources.

If you have any thoughts on this yourself please contact me at chief@hamiltonpolice.on.ca .