Ottawa is often regarded as one of the safest cities in the country, but residents believe their city’s streets – particularly those within the downtown core – are becoming more mean than clean, a new survey reveals.
The study, commissioned by Ottawa Police and conducted by polling firm Léger, found fewer citizens are feeling safe in locations around the city other than in their homes. Downtown Ottawa posted the sharpest drop, where feelings of safety fell 21 per cent.
The heightened sense of fear may be partly fueled by a perception that crime in the National Capital Region is on the rise. More than half of respondents thought the crime rate in Ottawa had gone up since 2012, the year the survey was last completed. In fact, reported crime across the city has dropped by nearly 14 per cent over the past three years, with Somerset Ward posting a 7.6 per cent decrease, according to annual crime trend reports posted on the Ottawa Police website.
The survey on crime perception was carried out online between March 30 and May 11, using a representative sample of more than 4,300 residents across the city’s 23 wards.
It’s a report card of sorts for the police department, a chance for the public to provide feedback on services and express their views on crime and safety in Ottawa. The entire study can be accessed using the Service Ottawa web portal.
The surprising results have local leaders baffled.
“I’m not hearing these kinds of things from residents who live downtown – certainly not from the people I’m talking to,” says Somerset Coun. Catherine McKenney. “Is it people visiting the downtown that have a perception of it being less safe? I don’t know.”
Thomas McVeigh, head of the Centretown Citizens Community Association and one of McKenney’s opponents in the municipal election last October, is equally shocked by the findings, which challenge Centretown’s reputation as a family-friendly area.
“I find the results very strange. Centretown is a very safe place, I’m raising my kids here,” he says.
“I’m just trying to figure out why the perception and the reality are at odds, especially when I’m not hearing these concerns from the community. I was a candidate last year for the councillor position for Somerset Ward, so I knocked on a lot of doors and safety wasn’t something that was brought up a lot by residents.”
McVeigh also says his association disbanded its crime and safety committee five years ago because there simply wasn’t enough crime in the ward to warrant its existence.
One possible explanation for the escalating sense of danger downtown points to a rather unlikely culprit – construction for Ottawa’s ambitious light-rail transit project.
“That may be creating some darker spots, spots on our streets where there’s less activity,” McKenney explains. “It’s activity that makes you feel safe in the downtown.”
McVeigh offers a different reason, saying the answer could lie in Centretown’s unique demographic composition.
“There’s a large concentration of older people who live alone in Centretown and that’s an ongoing concern for us,” he says.
“The feeling of safety tends to correlate with age – and older folks tend to feel a little less safe.”
The recent terror attack on Parliament Hill may also have contributed to the increased sense of fear in the downtown core.
Last October, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau opened fire on two sentries guarding the cenotaph at the National War Memorial, killing Cpl. Nathan Cirillo. Zehaf-Bibeau then stormed into Centre Block and was killed in a gunfight with police and security guards, while both the Conservatives and the NDP held caucus meetings just metres away.
“If people read about an attack or something that happened in downtown, but aren’t here to experience the area, then that can change their perception of safety,” says McKenney.
Nearly one year later, aftershocks from the attacks continue to reverberate. At the Sept. 28 meeting of the city’s police board, members approved the purchase of 29 pairs of night-vision goggles for the Ottawa Police tactical unit – a recommendation made in a review of the department’s handling of the October shootings last fall.
Both McKenney and McVeigh agree the best way for residents to dispel the notion of downtown as dangerous is to pay a visit to the area.
“It’s vibrant, lively, walkable – it’s really the place to be in our city,” McKenney says.
“We’re continuing to improve the walkability and to have people out, whether it’s with new patios, new markets that will be popping up soon or wider sidewalks.”
“I like downtown because I know it’s safer for my kids to be in a walkable, livable downtown environment,” echoes McVeigh.
“It’s about changing those false perceptions, and a dose of reality helps.”