A new and enhanced “Eyes that Care” campaign has been launched with an ambitious goal of bringing down the amount of preventable crime in the city by 10 per cent.
The campaign was launched at city council Monday night. City manager Jim Puffalt described the effort – one that will be seeking the public’s engagement in a major and increased way.
The concept of “eyes that care” is one the city has been pushing for a while: the idea of knowing your neighbours and what’s in your neighbourhood, and of looking out for suspicious or criminal activity.
“We want to take that further,” Puffalt said at council Monday. “We believe that if we can engage residents to take responsibility as much as possible for their areas, then we can [see] 10 per cent reductions for these types of crimes.”
The plan is to invite people to join the program and display a sign in their homes, similar to the “block parent” program of past years. As part of the program, they would commit to meeting their neighbours, calling in suspicious activity, locking their vehicles and providing an email so that monthly updates can be sent out.
In return, the city is providing an LED solar motion sensor security light for people to put on their properties. They will be supplied to all those who sign up for the Eyes That Care program by Canadian Tire.
The city will also provide an Eyes That Care sign which can be placed in the window, monthly updates and emails, as well as recognition of a monthly “Eyes that Care Neighbourhood Champion” who has met their neighbours, installed the light and the sign.
Community neighborhood meetings will also be organized over the coming months that will include the city’s Eyes That Care committee along with the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design committee.
The hope is for two of these to be held before Christmas. Further information will be posted on the city’s website so people can sign up.
Officials at City Hall see this effort as an opportunity to cut down on “preventable crimes” such as break-ins and thefts from or of vehicles, crimes that are largely attributed to those leaving doors unlocked or leaving their keys in automobiles.
But the effort to provide security lights is also key to the effort, so that people are better able to see what is going on at night outside.
Puffalt cited statistics from Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) research, showing 90 per cent of crime happens after dark.
The idea is that good lighting will mean residents will be able to observe and report any potential criminal activity and report suspects. The lighting would also serve as a deterrent to those who would go around vehicles at night looking to break into them, among other criminal activity.
“We want to make North Battleford a bad place to do bad business,” Puffalt said.
City officials were confident these efforts at greater participation would help bring down the amount of preventable crime in the city.
“We’re going to have more eyes that care, and it’s easier to see at night when there’s light,” said Mayor Ryan Bater of the effort.
“The whole point of this project is to reduce the amount of people who take part in preventable crime. We know that when we saw the stats from the Crime Severity Index earlier this year, we saw reductions in violent crime but we still see levels of preventable crime that we don’t like. This initiative is meant to encourage our citizenry to take the appropriate steps to prevent that crime, to make sure the opportunity doesn’t actually exist for criminals to take advantage of.”
