By Jennifer Irving
Centretown citizens could be seeing an increase of police officers in the next ten years if the Ottawa Police department gets what it wants from the City, although Coun. Diane Holmes says more officers will take away from community involvement with police.
Holmes says this increase in officers will take away from the already stagnant community police centres and create more traffic of police cruisers in the streets.
“The police have prevented any real police work being done in the community centres. Ours is open two hours a week,”
The centre is supposed to be open Monday to Friday from 12 to 4 p.m. and is located at 393 Somerset St. W.
The Ottawa Police Department has tabled a report asking for an increase of 30 officers per year over the next ten years, in order to meet the needs of a growing city population.
A few years back, the city implemented a new philosophy and model of community policing and opened several community police centres around the city.
With an emphasis on community partnership with the police, these centres are meant to serve the area’s needs. The citizens are encouraged to report problems and help police in solving issues in their community.
Holmes says the demand for more officers seems to be a move away from this community-based model towards a more centralized police force.
Sergeant Randy Mar has a different view of the increase of officers.
He says the new recruits will work mostly in rural areas of Ottawa, such as Barrhaven and Kanata, as these are the areas with the largest expected population growth.
A committee has already reviewed the community police centres and they will not be directly affected by the items proposed in the report, he says.
“The items in this report won’t affect strategies implemented for community police centres today,” he says.
Still, Holmes is not pleased with the possibility of having the community police centre in her ward jeopardized.
“I’m more interested in seeing a philosophy of community-based policing,” says Holmes. “I’m unconvinced that this community’s needs are going to be met.”
Holmes says the community police centres are important and could be a great help to the police if used correctly.
“We wouldn’t need centralized policing if these community police centres were open longer hours, or even just in the evening, as residents and businesses want them to be,” says Holmes.
According to a report tabled at the Police Services Board last week, the South Urban Centre is proposed to receive 92 extra officers over a ten-year period.
The placement of officers is being based mainly on expected population growth. According to the report, Somerset Ward will grow by approximately 10,000 people by 2015.
“The officers would be dispersed city-wide,” says Mar. “How we configure deployment of these officers is at a district level.”
Despite a proposed increase in officers, many local businesses want to see more effort going into the community police centres.
Karoly Loso, owner of K.Loso Violins on Hawthorne Avenue, would like to see the centres open longer hours. He says his shop is in a good area and has never had any problems with crime.
“It’s expensive to have more police officers,” he says. “I like the idea of community policing because it will help with specific problems in my area.”
The report was carried by board members and will be further discussed with City Council.