Well, the time has come to say goodbye. Inevitably all good things come to an end and my time has come to move on to new challenges. I have decided to take a leap of faith and embark on a journey outside of the policing world. I will, however, still be at service to Ottawa residents in a community safety capacity because the new job I am taking on is that of the community safety manager for Ottawa Community Housing.
But, before I fade away into the sunset, I thought I would take a walk down memory lane and look at the long list of articles I have written for you and summarize them in a way that reinforces my ultimate message which has been and will always be: that “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. “
In my first article I introduced myself to you. Basically, the only thing that you would remember from that article is how to pronounce my last name “who de man” (Hoedeman).
My second article tackled the issue of “shedding light on crime and safety” and in this article I spelled out why I was writing articles in the first place and that my interest was mainly going to focus on the root cause of crime and disorder.
My next articled entitled “invest in your community or you will lose it” focused on my belief that the best way to achieve community safety is through community engagement with police support, social agency assistance and government funding.
My next article “Are we safe in Centretown” addressed the issues of perception versus reality on issues of safety. I highlighted that many people are disconnected from what is truly going on in their community and that this limited their ability to feel safe because they usually assumed that things are worse than they are.
My next article “renovation designs with criminals in mind” was based on the CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) model of crime prevention where we look at how our environment can either discourage or encourage criminal activity. It is fast becoming a standard practice to use this model when evaluating how we build our communities.
“An end to victimization” was an article that addressed the challenges of reintegrating former sex offender in our communities. I felt that it was important for people to be aware that further marginalizing and victimizing a group of people who were often victims themselves as children and had served their time for their offence, could be the very reason why the former offender would re-offend again. I am still surprised that I did not receive more backlash for this article and I would like to believe that it was because people fundamentally understand that two wrongs do not make a right.
I wrote “combating the sex trade” because at the time, I had been receiving lots of complaints about prostitutes (sex trade workers) on the street corners of Centretown. I wanted to show that most street level prostitutes have their own story and that this was really “rock bottom” for most of them. I felt that equal attention should be paid to the “johns” as they were as much part of the problem and that the community needed to ensure a balanced approach when trying to resolve this issue with police.
My next article “crack cocaine epidemic in Centretown?” shed light on the fact that crack cocaine was becoming readily available on the streets of Ottawa and that the real impact of its use was being seen in our vulnerable population, such as the homeless. I simply wanted to make the point that those addicted to crack cocaine need access to treatment, not jail and that in order to truly make a difference, people needed to connect the dots between government funding and treatment facility and other resolution measures beyond law enforcement.
“A clean slate – tackling graffiti in Centretown” exposed the issues around tagging, graffiti and the four “E” program of Eradication, Education, Empowerment and Enforcement which I endorsed as ways to reduce the negative impacts of graffiti in our community.
“Talking about panhandling” was an article about the need for people to think twice before giving money blindly to panhandlers. Give Smart (www.givesmartottawa.ca) is an organization that does the thinking for you, so just give them your donation.
“Lessons from experience” compared common sense crime prevention with new technology tools and basically I concluded that it doesn’t matter how you achieve crime prevention, as long as you do it in a way that is sustainable.
“Community Policing part 1 & 2” shed the light on the history of community policing and Sir Robert Peel’s nine principles. It is a must-read if you plan on undertaking anything that involves a partnership with a police agency around crime prevention and community safety.
“Does more law equal more order?” was one of my favorite articles because it exposes that humans often self regulate and behave orderly when faced with a situation where there is freedom of choice instead of regulated choices or top down pressure.
Another favorite article of mine was the one on “learning disabilities and crime: Is there a connection?”. This article was inspired by a statistic, released by Corrections Canada that pointed to the fact that almost 70 per cent of incarcerated males suffered from a form of learning disability. This rang true for me, as I understood that criminalizing youth with this condition was more of a problem than a solution.
In my next article, “compliments vs complaints,” I exposed that police are humans as well and will often respond better to positive reinforcement (compliments) versus negative reinforcement (complaints) from the public.
“Paralysis by analysis” was an article that was inspired by my realization that when you over analyze an issue, very little gets done to actually solve it. No need to elaborate on that one! ]
“Involved seniors make a healthy and safer community” was an article that spoke about the fact that seniors can be a very valuable resource and asset in crime prevention and community safety since they have more time to dedicate to community issues and have a great depth of life experience.
“The rooming house issue” gave people an idea of how to deal with a rooming house whose tenants were creating an environment of fear based on their out of control behavior. My main point was to let people know that the best solutions for this situation usually always involve the landlord, City agencies (police, by-law, Councilor’s office), local community associations and the residents of that community.
”Slow down you’re moving too fast” is probably my favorite article because I really believe that much of what ails society are due to the fact that we do not take the time to examine how our individual choices and behavior impacts the big picture. Living life in the fast lane makes a person less self aware and quite frankly quite dangerous in certain situations!
“Taking ownership of public spaces” exposes how people feel safer and are safer when they use their community’s public spaces in a manner that it was designed for as this leaves little room for criminal activity or disorderly conduct to occur.
“Make the call but call the right number” is really about just that, so do it, or you could be tying up emergency resources that could be better used elsewhere.
“The article on “Cst. Eric Czapnik” was a tough one to write and I hope that it gave all of you a better understanding of the risk involved in being a police officer and that I was able to exposed for you, the human side of the men and women who wear the badge.
“Building safer communities” is an article about the importance of both grassroots solutions and government funding when it comes to being able to really tackle the hard issues around community safety.
“Does closed circuit TV really make a community safe?” was an article that took a hard look at the use of CCTV as a crime prevention and enforcement tool and I concluded that it could be depending on its use.
“Trust you gut instincts to stay safe” is another one of my favorite articles and who knew that it would be basically my last one. I guess I felt so strong about this article that I decided to do that very thing and trust my own instincts by leaving policing and forging ahead with a new challenge with Ottawa Community Housing.
In conclusion, I just want to acknowledge how thankful I am for having the opportunity to write articles for all of you on behalf of the Ottawa Police Service in the past three years. I have only received positive feedback from readers and this encouraged me to continue to share with you with the hope that something that I wrote might inspire you to make a difference. It is your choice and it is never too late.
On this note, I hand over my pen to my replacement, Const. Khoa Hoang who will be in charge of the Somerset Community Police Center as of May 17. Const. Hoang is an accomplished writer in his own right and therefore I have no doubt that he will continue to inspire all of you to do your part in making things safe in all our backyards. Be well, be aware and be safe.
Const. Nathan Hoedeman badge #972 signing off 10-7 duty.