Over the past 3 years crime in Newton has been on a downward trend. 2015 saw a 5% decrease, 2016 9% decrease and 2017 an astonishing 18% reduction in total crime. How and why? Did we add more RCMP to the streets? Is the Public Safety Strategy making huge inroads against crime in Newton. Has the public become so disillusioned that they are simply not reporting crime anymore? Has the problem been downloaded onto the business community?
Newton RCMP Crime Statistics 2017
Break & Enter:
Shoplifting:
Mischief:
-18%
-12%
-17%
The Newton BIA implemented a safety initiative in 2016 called the Community Safety Patrol (CSP). This program is a 7 day a week, 8 hours a day crime reduction security model. No call is too small in the Newton Town Center for the Newton BIA. We have developed a hotline that is very effective for the businesses. Over the past four years we have been building relationships with the community. As a result, we have created a level of trust at the cross roads of 72 Ave and King George Blvd. Our businesses know that they have someone that will respond with urgency when they are having problems. In 2017 the CSP team responded to nearly 4000 files. This level of service has provided substantial results for the businesses in the town center. The majority of these files deal with low level crime of mischief, public intoxication and cause a disturbance.
Newton BIA Statistics 2017
Used Needles
Homeless Count
Graffiti Clean Up
Garbage Clean Up
Safe Rides
Safety Audits
Shopping Cart Retrieval
1592
41
870
8115lbs
27
192
390
The Newton BIA would like to provide better results; however, our service ends at 4pm. I believe that by providing an additional patrol from 4pm until midnight that the Newton Town Center would see another dramatic decrease in the RCMP total crime statistics for the area. Nothing comes for free as this initiative has a $150,000 price tag attached to it. Unfortunately, there is no room for this additional expense in the Newton BIA’s budget.
Should the business community increase the tax burden on its local businesses to finance crime reduction? How can all three levels of government provide better financially prudent safety results? What does the RCMP require to recapture the people’s confidence in Newton?
Results matter!
