Column: Are we safe in Centretown?

One of the main concerns that people have voiced to me since I became a community police officer has been around the issue of safety and security in the Centretown area. Why certain people felt unsafe while walking the streets of Centretown.

Part of my role as a community police officer is to give presentations to community stakeholders on how to use crime prevention as a strategy to reduce victimization. The presentation that is requested the most is the one on personal and community safety. What I find I end up doing is addressing people’s perception that living downtown can be unsafe and is certainly riskier than living in the suburbs. Is this perception based on fact or fiction? Well, read on and you decide.

I have travelled to cities in Canada, the United States, Europe, the Caribbean and South America and I have seldom felt unsafe in any of the cities I have visited. Of course I take into consideration that I am an able- bodied male, that I am of a certain stature and I am pretty confident in my police training. My personal life experience has also prepared me to be able to deal with most situations that I come across.

In comparison to the cities I have visited, I have found Ottawa to be one of the safest places to live and work. I have patrolled both in the suburbs and in the downtown area and I found that both areas have many reasons for people to feel safe and very few to feel unsafe.

In fact, the most horrific crimes that I have come across as a police officer occurred outside the downtown core. When I patrolled Centretown, I remember that I was often used as a back-up car to the Byward Market area, especially at night, because of the bar fights and drunks roaming the street. Centretown was actually pretty quiet for a downtown urban area. So why all the fuss about personal safety in Centretown?

Well, I have come to realize that people seem to be reacting to a perception that is more based on fear based than fact. People are not used to being accosted by aggressive panhandlers, some of who are addicted to crack cocaine and appear more desperate. People are not used to seeing people shooting up in back alleys, or seeing prostitutes whom no longer moves along when a cruiser drives by. The emergence of graffiti also plays into people perceptions that there may be more gangs roaming around, or that general delinquency is alive and well, even though they have no personal experience with being victimized. 

Most people who approach me about feeling unsafe in Centretown are for the most part, simply feeling disconnected from what is really going on on the streets and in the absence of really knowing, feel afraid of the unknown. That is human nature.

The only way to know is to get out on the streets and find out and if most people did this they would realize that our streets are actually pretty safe, no matter what time of the day or night you choice to roam around.

Let me back up my point with some statistics that our district crime analyst pulled up for the Centretown area: In 2005 there were 29 robbery (theft with violence, or threat of violence) incidents reported to Ottawa Police in the Centretown area. In 2006 there 31, in 2007 there were 35 and so far in 2008, there have been two incidents of robbery reported.

We had four purse thefts reported in 2005, five in 2006, five in 2007 and one in 2008. In 2005, we received 15 reports of swarmings (theft involving two or more suspects), 24 in 2006, 10 in 2007 and one in 2008. That is a total of 162 incidents of robberies, purse thefts and swarmings from 2005 until February 2008 (1,155 days).

I used these types of crime to measure if people’s fears are based on reality or perception, because they are what people typically fear the most while walking around their community. The statistics indicate clearly that the chances of being victim to such a crime are very slim if you consider the amount of people who walk the streets of Centretown on a daily basis.

To conclude, the reality of things is rarely black or white, but rather shades of grey. Because of this one has to constantly fight the urge to see things as black and white.

For example, saying that the emergence of graffiti is a sign that there are gangs in Centretown is sometimes popular belief, but it is certainly not true. Most graffiti in Centretown is a form of “tagging.” Another example would be that the fact that we have some aggressive panhandlers addicted to crack cocaine means that people are being robbed and assaulted. Again not true. The stats clearly indicated that there was very little increase in the incidents of robbery eported to police since 2005, despite the fact that crack cocaine has become more readily available on our streets since then.

Ultimately the people we fear the most are really mostly hurting themselves and not other innocent citizens. If anything, there are more minor thefts associated with street persons being addicted to crack, but the feared crimes such as robberies has increased only marginally.

So where does this perception come from? Well, in today’s society we hear of every natural disaster and horrific crime 24 hours a day, seven days a week from all over the world and that means that our minds have to constantly process information that creates a human fear response even though there is nothing to be afraid of in that moment.

If this fear response shapes our perception and becomes our reality, then it is no wonder that people generally feel unsafe, since there is little they feel they can do about all the sensational news competing for people’s attention.

But there is a solution.

Turn off your TV, turn off your radio, turn off your computer, put down the newspaper and get out and walk the streets of your neighbourhood and be aware of what’s going on. Then you will realize that there is not much you need to fear in your own backyard.

For safety tips visit the Ottawa Police Service website.