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Cutting of crime prevention position called shortsighted

Red Deer city council’s decision to cut a position directly related to preventing crime in neighbourhoods was very shortsighted, says a man who’s worked in the industry of crime prevention for more than 20 years.

Red Deer city council’s decision to cut a position directly related to preventing crime in neighbourhoods was very shortsighted, says a man who’s worked in the industry of crime prevention for more than 20 years.

Steve Woolrich, who is contracted by the City of Red Deer to handle all assessments regarding Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), said he was “extremely disappointed” when council refused to extend the crime prevention co-ordinator’s contract.

That means that Dean Scott, who has worked in the job for the last four and a half years, will be out of work at the end of this month.

“I don’t think they understand the implications of this,” said Woolrich on Friday.

“We’re talking about policing and safety all the time. So how do you turn around and terminate a critical position like that?

Up until the end of 2011, the job was funded year-to-year out of the policing reserve.

The city’s Community Services Directorate recommended the six-year-old contract position become a permanent job, which would have totalled $92,810 in salary and benefits this year.

A new Safety Charter — a city workplan to develop strategies over the next several years involving crime prevention and similar topics — will include reviewing the role of the crime prevention co-ordinator.

Coun. Paul Harris was the only one to vote against the position cut, but he said he believes in what the charter will do.

“I think we’ll have really good results in the end with the way we’ll look at all the different responses to crime prevention,” Harris said.

Coun. Tara Veer said council likely voted to cut the co-ordinator’s role because it was a contract position that was up for renewal, which was different from a number of other positions being suggested under the policing budget.

“It became very clear (during 2012 operational budget talks) that in previous years we have invested a lot of money in crime prevention and enforcement, but not necessarily seeing the results we want to see in the community,” said Veer.

“That’s a result of the Crime and Policing Study (done last year) that council hasn’t clearly articulated what our expectations and priorities are.”

While Veer said it’s extremely unfortunate that a person has been laid off, she said council must get specific on what it wants out of these areas.

The crime prevention co-ordinator was involved in many aspects of crime prevention. Woolrich was consulted by the city on how to build parks, streets and buildings safer through CPTED, but then he reported those findings onto Scott.

“Dean actively moves that work forward — he leads the community engagement,” said Woolrich.

Woolrich said Scott was also working on the Graffiti Strategy, which has been underway for two years. It will be presented soon to city council.

Scott was also co-ordinating the Crime Free Multi-Housing Project.

It teaches management how to properly screen tenants, making sure buildings meet minimum security standards, and having the owner/manager host an annual Safety Social to get residents involved in preventing crime. Woolrich wondered what would happen to the project.

Scott was also part of the Crime Prevention Advisory Committee, plus he worked closely with Red Deer city RCMP Cpl. Kathe DeHeer in community policing.

“And we’re very cognizant with how crime prevention ties in with social planning and community development,” said Woolrich.

“So in my eyes, (the loss of this position) has created a huge gaping hole for us here now.”

Woolrich said he hopes that the co-ordinator position would be reintroduced through the work of the Safety Charter.

The charter has a $200,000 budget for crime prevention and policing initiatives and $100,000 for its implementation.

There was some interest on council to possibly use some of this money towards hiring police officers.

“Policing is still a very reactive way of doing things, so you have people like Dean who are doing proactive work and we eliminate the position,” Woolrich said.

“Crime prevention is an investment. Crime is a cost.”

ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com