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Ottawa police are planning to target crime “hot spots” this spring, using focused enforcement for “high-harm offenders,” once a new neighbourhood operations centre opens in the Rideau Centre at the end of May.
A report for the Ottawa Police Services Board outlines plans for a new Community Outreach Response and Engagement Strategy, or CORE, including an increased police presence in the ByWard Market and the surrounding area, along with the new neighbourhood operations centre.
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As part of the strategy, police will deploy “intermittent, highly visible patrols in these identified areas,” including the Rideau Street area, ByWard Market and Lowertown, to deter crime and improve perceptions of public safety. Focused enforcement, the report says, involves “identifying the high-harm offenders and directing swift enforcement action to curtail and deter further offending.”
Additionally, “by leveraging data and information sharing agreements with our partners, other stakeholders like OC Transpo and the City of Ottawa Community Engagement Team, will also direct their efforts to these hot spot areas,” the report reads. “Our combined efforts will both deter crime and direct supports to vulnerable individuals.”
A crime prevention “blitz” is also slated for late spring, the report says, involving “the use of data analytics and community partner engagement to identify locations and businesses most affected by crime and social disorder.”
Additionally, Ottawa Police Service officers are also partnering with the city’s community engagement and outreach teams, the report reads, to “support the needs of the vulnerable and street-involved population in high-priority areas.”
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The report notes the Ontario government and the City of Ottawa inked a new funding deal in late March, with $48 million over three years to address community and public safety. That money will pay for an increase in uniformed police officers in the ByWard Market and on the transit system, along with alternative mental health supports, the report says.
Aside from targeting crime hot spots, focused enforcement and opening the neighbourhood operations centre, the strategy includes formation of a community advisory council and and “Integrated Community Support Table” bringing together the expertise and resources of more than 30 community partners, the report says.
The report also says the strategy’s short-term benefits include “improved, nuanced understanding of community crime and disorder concerns, and mitigation of conditions that facilitate crime and disorder,” medium-term benefits of enhanced community safety, increased trust, and efficient use of the police service’s resources and personnel, among others.
The long-term benefits are expected to be “strong, productive relationships with community partners; healthy, resilient, and safe communities; efficient, effective OPS service delivery that addresses community priorities; and trust and confidence in the OPS,” the report reads.
The report will be presented to the police services board on Monday.
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