THUNDER BAY -- While there’s a lot of work left to do the city’s crime prevention council says it’s working and local police agree.
With 26 partners, the Thunder Bay Crime Prevention council has spent its first four years raising awareness on issues of crime through everything from victims’ walks to award-winning videos on hate crimes. It’s also hosted a number of neighbourhood initiatives aimed at bringing people together.
The prevention council provided its third and final update to this term of city council Monday night.
“Getting people again believing that their neighbour is someone they should look out for,” council chair Tom Walters said. “I think it’s having a huge impact.”
“This certainly doesn’t mean that there aren’t problems in our city.”
This year has been difficult and Walters said condolences go out to those affected but despite eight homicides getting people’s attention and spreading fear of crime in the community, the city’s crime rate, both violent and non-violent, and severity index are down.
“Things are not as bad as they seem,” he said. “Is there cause for concern yes but let’s be realistic.”
“We’re not having random acts of violence in our community.”
Thunder Bay Police Service deputy chief Andy Hay said getting the crime rate down has been a collaborative effort between police and the prevention council. But it’s hard to quantify exactly how much of an impact the council is having on the crime rate.
