Crime prevention council examines relationship between crime and drug abuse

Drugs and crime go hand in hand, says the city’s crime prevention council co-ordinator.

There’s no escaping it, said Amy Siciliano, which is why they spent the bulk of their second monthly meeting listening to the newly launched Thunder Bay Drug Strategy Report and a brief outline of city manager Tim Commisso’s proposal for community partnership housing for people with substance abuse problems.

“For instance, we know that people who abuse substances have a higher correlation with partner and child abuse. We also know they’re more at risk for certain crimes, particularly when they need to manage their addictions,” Siciliano said.
 
“With alcohol abuse, for instance, we know that there’s a higher risk of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and we do know that there’s a disproportional representation in our prisons of people with FASD. I think it’s really important for the crime prevention council to hear what’s going on in the community.”

Commisso said he preferred to wait until he presents the plan to council on Monday before speaking to it with media, but did say during the meeting that his solution involves short-term detox-style beds and suggested both the city and DSSAB could contribute $30,000 apiece to the project.  

Siciliano said she’s in the diagnosis stage of her research into Thunder Bay’s crime problem, and one of the key questions is does the city have a drug strategy.

If yes, is it implemented and does it include a wide array of community partners.

“This is good for me because it’s going to help me get a sense of what’s going on for my diagnosis,” she said.

Siciliano, who next month plans to bring recommendations about a proposed curfew brought forward by Mayor Keith Hobbs shortly after he was elected – complete with alternatives for the CPC to consider before taking it to council – said she’s spent the past month getting to know some of the council’s key partners.

First and foremost she’s met with the council’s two youth reps, and discussed setting up focus groups in local high schools to look at safety in the city.

“We’ll be going into the high schools next week and the week after,” Siciliano said, adding she also planned to report back on a meeting she recently had with federal justice minister and attorney general Rob Nicholson.

“I’m also going to be talking about setting up a public education and communication plan for the crime prevention council. One of the things I said at the last meeting was that I don’t want to move forward with a safety plan until we have our diagnosis done,” she said. “But there are things we can do in the interim, and one of them is work on public education and communication.”

Council members also learned about a study being conducted on street involved youth, an initiative of the Children’s Aid Society of Thunder Bay.

The objective of the study is to uncover what services are available to kids on the street, their knowledge of how to access them and what services are needed to help them escape life on the streets.

It’s important work, said the study co-author, Michelle Vibert, who also invited committee members to take part in an interview to review the available literature and pinpoint just how many youth are on the street and accessing emergency services. 

“Like it or not, there are a number of street involved youth in Thunder Bay, and right now we’re failing them,” Vibert said, kicking off Wednesday’s meeting.