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2013-01-21 at 20:42

Mayor’s task force?

By Jeff Labine, tbnewswatch.com
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THUNDER BAY -- Keith Hobbs says he wants to get to the root of the city’s crime problems.

The mayor admitted at the Community Safety Forum last week his campaign promise to clean up the streets of Thunder Bay has been an abject failure.  That forum was to address increasing safety concerns regarding a pair of high-profile cases involving the Aboriginal community.

Following the forum, Hobbs met with Amy Siciliano, coordinator for the Thunder Bay Crime Prevention Council, to discuss forming a special task force.

That task force would look at short-term solutions for the city’s violent crime.

“We have to identify who are doing the crimes and why they are doing the crimes,” Hobbs said Monday.

“We have to get into demographics. I want everything on the table. I don’t consider it profiling criminals. I think if there’s a segment of the population that are committing more crime then we have to get to the root of the problem and why that is happening. I don’t want anything hidden. We have to get it all out.”

Hobbs said he and members of the crime council met again on Friday along with the city’s chief of police. He said they also want to invite representatives from Nishnawbe Aski Nation to be a part of that task force.

He said they have a group already working on the situation but nothing official has been done yet. Some of those individuals were from the Thunder Bay Shelter House and the Drug Prevention Strategy.

“We haven’t even given it a name yet. I was thinking of ‘mayor’s task force’ or ‘crime prevention council task force’,” he said.
“Our goal is to find solutions for the violence we’ve seen in this community. If you look at the Kitchener, Ont. model it took them 20 years. We can’t wait 20 years.”

A meeting will be held Tuesday to discuss the events that took place at the safety forum and what the next steps will be.


 

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Comments

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CM Punk says:
This city sure has changed over the years.
When I was a kid we walked to school and after school we played road hockey or rode our bikes until dark.
Now days once 5pm hits, time to lock the doors.
1/21/2013 8:52:21 PM
Dan Dan says:
I'm worried about violent crime, but I am far more worried about traffic issues. As someone who has to drive for a living, my life is at much greater risk from bad drivers than violent criminals.
1/21/2013 9:10:23 PM
anon says:
Agreed on the traffic issues. But for me it's not the speeders, it's the lack of common driving knowledge in this town.

Not too long ago, I watched a driver refuse to give the car in the right lane room to safely merge in front of them, and then honked when the right lane driver "cut them off." A police cruiser was right behind him, put on the sirens, and pulled the left lane driver over. I was so happy to see somebody finally do something about the discourteous and ignorant drivers we have in this city.

Hopefully the work of this officer becomes more of a trend.
1/22/2013 1:01:18 AM
Pearlman says:
Take a look at what demographic the majority of the violent crime is involved with. And most of the time the victim and the suspect are known to each other... Not a real shocker.

I live in Thunder Bay and I live without fear.

Driving on the other hand, well that's a completely different story. ;)
1/21/2013 10:29:17 PM
JubJub says:
We know the demographics - just ask our police force. We know the reasons - just look at out social issues, poverty and drug use. What we need are solutions, not more reports, studies and committees. Unfortunately, to make real progress there has to major everhauls to our justice system, changes in law enforcement, improvements in our economy and breaking the cycle of despair in our broken down families. Good luck task force.
1/21/2013 10:39:02 PM
Dr.Feelgood says:
"Mayor's task force"? Might as well let it go over budget now and run it into the ground. Partnerships, targeted programs and prevention is key.
1/21/2013 11:17:52 PM
TBDR says:
So what has the mayor let go over budget? The waterfront which he wasn't on council when it was approved? The new EMS building which he wasn't on council when it was approved? What has he run into the ground exactly? Some citation would be nice...
1/22/2013 11:49:57 AM
MD says:
"What has he run into the ground exactly?"...the chances of him getting re-elected.
1/22/2013 3:08:01 PM
SomeGuy says:
Good to see our Crime Prevention Committee is working, maybe instead of just coming up with recommendations and ideas we actually do something.

But of course that will never happen cause our City moves at a snails pace when it comes to change.
1/21/2013 11:45:01 PM
michyj32 says:
Didn't they already have a crime task force or they were already supposed to have this report??? The more poverty you have the more crime...
1/21/2013 11:57:15 PM
joey joe joe jr. shabadoo says:
JubJub: when you say poverty & drug use, your throwing all for a loop....I guarantee atleast 50% or more that do drugs have really really good paying jobs...

Get everyone to realize dealers could be set-up just around the corner from YOUR HOME TOO!! Dont think ALL the drug houses are in certain areas of town as yer way off!

So many need to wake up cause atleast 1 person in your neighborhood has something to do with illegal activities, if not more than that...

The ole "9 to 5" throws alot of peeps off I'm sure...

Most believe what they hear without even knowing the person & judge by appearance, not by the person.

It's too bad as there are so many nice people out there that never get the chance because of the way they look...

Hopefully one day we can have world peace.
1/22/2013 12:12:33 AM
Circular_Logic says:
Joey;

Always remember that just because you think you're not paranoid, doesn't mean people aren't out to get you [quick shoulder-check].
1/22/2013 10:54:10 PM
Sui Generis says:
The root of the crime problem is not exactly rocket science. It's twofold, however.

1. Poverty and substance abuse. When people are starving, can't pay bills or don't know how they're going to feed their children, they will go to desperate measures to bring money in. When a person is an addict, whether of drugs or alcohol, they will stop at nothing to feed that addiction. Until you solve those, you won't solve the base crime in this city.

2. When you DO catch the criminals, QUIT LETTING THEM GO! Harsher penalties are required for repeat offenders. I think it's fair to say the law abiding majority are sick and tired of reading and hearing "was charged with breach of probation".
1/22/2013 1:46:22 AM
Vanity says:
The Mayor in 2011 established Approved the
Community Safety and Crime Prevention Strategy
including preliminary audit of crime and disorder
in Thunder Bay. Now he wants another task force. This man has no credibility....he has no clue. 90 % of crime and drunken people are the same over and over again. More treatment and education is required. Why does no one invest in this.
1/22/2013 11:51:28 AM
spooner19 says:
I agree the crime problem needs to be dealt with in the city, but i also have to agree it's more dangerous driving in this city and chances are you are going to get hurt driving than from any crime. People here do not know what the word merge means. When there is a long merging lane to get onto the hwy or expressway you are supposed to speed up and merge into traffic. For some reason people in this city get to the end of the merging lane and stop waiting for a opening and when you do try to speed up and merge into traffic people in the right lane speed up and try to block you from getting in. I travel a lot and i never see this anywhere but here, if you did that somewhere else you would cause a major accident or probably get your lights punched out for being a idiot driver. If you see someone merging into traffic move over to the other lane or slow down and let the person into traffic, it is common sense and you should know this or you should not have a license!!!
1/22/2013 12:36:21 PM
rootbear says:
I was going to comment on an earlier post but I couldn't agree more with the drivers! Let's see some of them survive in the big cities merging into traffic. Oh ya, many drivers don't know the difference between "yield and merge". I also have a name for the mayor's task force but if I said it, I'd be zapped off!
1/22/2013 4:01:35 PM
The Badger Mountain Hermit says:
Quit keep trying to solve our social ills by making more things illegal.
1/22/2013 2:28:10 PM
razor_burn says:
You have a task force meatball. It's called the police. Now go get them to do their jobs instead of always asking the public to do it for them. Stupid!
1/22/2013 3:21:53 PM
lance says:
meatball, now that's a good adjective for him
1/22/2013 6:36:18 PM
triceps says:
The POLICE should be our task force, why aren't they??
1/22/2013 4:06:19 PM
jb says:
I don't understand the point of the Thunder Bay Crime Prevention Council if it isn't already a "task force" to look at solutions for preventing violent crime. Additional groups that serve (what seems to be) the same purpose are redundant and will probably just make it more difficult to get anything done.
1/22/2013 4:16:45 PM
pagirl says:
So...who's going to chase all the criminals out of town? Because when they're caught doing a crime, the judges certainly don't put many of them in jail, so they're just back out to do it again and again and again. You guys think the police don't arrest many people every day? They do their job, and they are generally back out the next day.
1/22/2013 4:48:52 PM
Mastermind says:
I don't think people want the true demographic on this. Victim and accused usually know each other. They already are involved in a violent lifestyle which eventually catches up to them. It is not a racial thing. The stats will show that it is usually "same race "violence perpetrated. Hobbs you know the answers. Stop grandstanding
1/22/2013 10:35:10 PM
smoke stack says:
so we have a crime prevention council coordinator who gets paid a good salary from the city, we have over 30 people who are on this council, we have police officers on this crime prevention council, we have the mayor , we also have dinosaurs from the current city council on the crime prevention council and the mayor wants to set up a special task force to find out the root of the citys crime problem.

Read the short article in the link which details the crime prevention coordinators credentials. She gets paid a good salary to find out the root cause of the citys crime problem not some idiotic task force put forth by our bumbling stumbling mayor.

1/23/2013 7:58:39 AM
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