Community safety co-ordinator says don’t get discouraged

Despite some recent setbacks in the crime statistics, the City of North Battleford’s community safety co-ordinator is urging council to not get discouraged.

“I’ve been following the RCMP crime stats and I know the inspector was here. February didn’t look as good as January did,” said Herb Sutton, who gave his monthly monitoring report to council Monday night.

“I hope it doesn’t discourage people from the work that we’re doing,” Sutton added.

“I still continue to see lots of really good things happening in the community. I think there’s some enthusiasm around the work that is happening. And people are starting to feel good about the progress that we are making. So hopefully one month of increase in crime stats isn’t going to derail all of our processes.”

Councillor Greg Lightfoot, who chaired the meeting, said, “I have to concur. I’ve heard lots of positive things about what we’re doing with community safety.”

Councillor Ryan Bater agreed, adding “I think we knew this would not happen overnight.”

There was a long list of items and community efforts Sutton could point to in his monthly report and he could point to progress in a number of areas. Among them are as follows:

An April 20 board meeting is set for Concern for Youth and the goal is to have their youth survey report completed by that point with a decision on release soon after that;

A proposal was made to BATC Community Development Program for a proposed community cadet/first responder program for youth in the city;

A first meeting was held Feb. 26 towards launching efforts to develop a Community Safety Plan, with about 50 people in attendance including Mayor Ian Hamilton, City Manager Jim Puffalt and MLA Herb Cox, as well as other provincial and federal representation;

March 27 is set as a date for an information and organizational meeting to gauge interest in creating an addictions treatment court in North Battleford;

Continued busy activity at the Lighthouse;

All eight pocket housing units at the transitional housing project are filled and an application is already made for funding for a second pocket-housing location; 

The housing study is still in progress;

Efforts continue to move forward with a Community Safety Audit (with a target area identified for that audit) and the crime-free multi housing Initiative; and

Efforts continue towards a community directory.