Crime, disorder down in central Edmonton: police

The Edmonton Police Service says crime and disorder are down across the city thanks to a proactive approach. CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenny has the details.

Crime and disorder in central Edmonton is trending down, according to police.

Violent crime over a period in March and April was down 1.2 per cent compared to last year, while non-violent crime was down 3.5 per cent for the same period. Disorder decreased 13 per cent.

Edmonton Police Service (EPS) attributes the change to a new strategy in which more uniformed officers are deployed to hot spots, as determined by dispatch centre data and information from beat officers.

EPS calls it a tailored approach to enforcement.

“We’re not just arresting everybody that is out there doing disorder offences. These are, generally, our more serious offenders that are committing assaults. It’s usually possession of weapons or trafficking of drugs,” EPS chief Warren Driechel told reporters on Friday.

“We’re dealing, obviously, with people using drugs in public a little bit differently. We’re not trying to criminalize that behaviour. We’re trying to, obviously, intervene,” he added.

In another example, following an increased “proactive” presence by EPS at Southgate Station in March, disorder dropped 20 per cent and violent crime by 27 per cent, according to EPS.

“Our goal will be to try to connect people with those services that they become disconnected from,” Driechel said, “and again, setting what we will tolerate or what we will allow in our city.”

Progress but more work needed

Partnerships with the City of Edmonton and Hope Mission are helping stop disorder, EPS said.

“We need to make sure that we have the right interventions for the right people,” Tim Pasma with Hope Mission said. “By developing that data, we know what program streams are going to be appropriate person by person.”

Groups in central Edmonton are seeing a difference. Sandy Pon with the Chinatown Transformation Collaborative Society says improvements may not be obvious but things are getting better every day.

However, the Edmonton Downtown Business Association has heard from major companies that employees are “a little bit nervous to get on the LRT.”

“We are pleased with the responsiveness Chief Driechel is calling for,” Cheryll Watson with the Downtown Revitalization Coalition said.

“We have seen actions already taken. So we’re really optimistic about what’s going to happen in the weeks ahead.”