Despite two robberies in Centretown within a month, business owners and residents need not worry that a pattern is developing, says Staff Sgt. Mike Haarbosch, of the Ottawa police robbery unit.
“We’re not seeing it,” Haarbosch says of a burglary pattern. “In the Centretown area right now, it’s not a problem that’s trending. We’re not having a robbery problem, if you want to call it that, in that particular area.”
Haarbosch’s comments come in the wake of a Feb. 2 robbery at a Booth Street spa by two men, one of whom was carrying a gun. A bank on Preston Street was also robbed in early January.
While police maintain that no trend is developing, Centretown residents and businesses have become increasingly accustomed to criminal activity in recent years.
Roughly one-third of Ottawa’s crime in 2010 occurred in Somerset ward, according to a crime report from the Ottawa Police Service.
A disproportionate crime rate has also contributed to increased worry over security.
On average, residents in the Somerset ward are 13 per cent more concerned about burglaries than other Ottawans.
In contrast, residents of the neighbouring Kitchissippi ward are generally less concerned than the average citizen, the OPS report shows.
However, Const. Khoa Hoang, of the Somerset Community Police Centre, says crime rates are volatile and that they will fluctuate regularly. He also says the nature of crimes is largely contingent upon the neighbourhood.
“It’s hit and miss: some things we’re higher on, some things we’re lower on. It’s a year-to-year (thing),” Hoang says. “We have certain crimes in Centretown that, for example, Kanata doesn’t have. But Kanata also has spikes in particular crimes that Centretown doesn’t.”
However, according to the latest data from Ottawa Neighbourhood Study, Centretown has consistently demonstrated a high crime rate in recent years. In 2004, Centretown’s property crime rate was about 2.5 times that of the city average and its personal-crime rate was almost three times the norm.
Some believe that crime is a natural byproduct of downtown life.
“It’s certainly true that rates of crime are higher in the downtown area than in the suburbs, but there are many reasons for that including the mix of residential and commercial,” says Nancy Worsfold, executive director of Crime Prevention Ottawa.
Worsfold says the combination of residences and commercial properties impedes “social cohesion,” an element that’s crucial to crime prevention.
“Communities that know each other, communities where there’s social cohesion, are communities which are safer.”