Community Policing

Last night I attended a Community Policing Meeting. Given the delegations we listened to one has to conclude that not all young people are into sports, music lessons, ballet, theatre, and similar structured environments. If we do not provide them with positive outlets for their energy the ones they do find may not be socially acceptable and may be destructive both to themselves and those around them. Destruction of public and private property, bush parties, drugs, hooliganism, street racing, vandalism, graffiti, intimidation, self-mutilation, pyromania--all these and more can follow. Should public funds support skate-board half-pipes, organized drag strips, drop-in centres, meeting places? Are the costs of not providing them not even greater?

Many maintain a small-town village mentality forgetting that city or not we live in a community with a population that exceeds 100,000. The proper handling of safety and security issues changes when one moves from a rural community where everyone knows or is related to everyone else to an anonymous pluralistic society.

1. We pay professionals to keep the peace. Don’t endanger yourself by trying to do their job for them.
2. Our police service cannot do something about a situation you have not reported. Call them.
3. If you let a situation fester for years until you feel intimated inside your own home, no amount of enforcement will make you feel safe.
4. Neither citizen input committees nor the police can solve your problem if you are unwilling to participate in finding the solution. Paying your taxes does not entitle you to 24/7 police surveillance of your neighbourhood.
5. Speeding is usually a home-grown issue. Talking it up among your neighbours may be more effective than you would believe. Talk to your kids about it and their friends. Your neighbour’s kids may be more effective at traffic enforcement than the police service particularly in light of an individual caught twice within the hour on the same street by two separate officers.

We seem to live in a society where entitlement and self-interest are the guiding principles. Where parents would drop their kids off at their classroom doors with their SUV's if it were possible. Where people complain about speeding and traffic noise in their neighbourhood and are then surprised when they themselves get pulled over for speeding in that very neighbourhood. Where young people are going to the dogs, but a parent expresses shock and denial when a police car brings "Johnny" home as a result of some offense. Where people expect police protection but refuse to take responsibility for their own acts and the parenting of their own children. No, I don't have any magic solutions. "It takes a village to raise a child." Citizen input committees cannot provide magic answers to every problem, but they can raise awareness and motivate people to work together toward those solutions.