Crime not police's fault

Let the electioneering begin.

On Monday night, former Coun. Bill Scollie appeared before council for a deputation on crime rates in the city.

During the course of his presentation he said that it’s his belief that Police Chief Bob Herman should resign and that council should consider a vote of non-confidence in the police board.
Scollie, who has not yet filed to run for council again, jumped all over an issue that dominated the news in the latter half of 2009.

One can’t help but think he’s trying to make himself the law-and-order candidate of the at-large cache, jumping in feet first ahead of an expected decision to file by Thunder Bay Police Association president Keith Hobbs.

Call it a case of grandstanding.

Scollie, who butted heads with Herman for most of his six-year run on council between 2000 and 2006, has to make a name for himself again, and what better way than at the expense of the city’s leading law enforcement official.

Herman has said he won’t resign, and why should he?

Certainly violent crime was in the spotlight in 2009, with six murders occurring in Thunder Bay. But there’s little police can do to stop these crimes of passion from happening. There are much larger social issues that must first be addressed before city residents start seeing decreases in violent crimes.