Abbotsford, BC, and Thunder Bay have something in common – each city recently received and dropped the infamous title of Canada’s murder capital.
But while Thunder Bay’s crime rate has remained relatively unchanged since being named the country’s murder capital, Abbotsford’s efforts to reduce its murder rate was accompanied by an overall drop in violent crime.
According to Statistics Canada, Abbotsford’s violent crime rate dropped by nearly 25 per cent from 2009 to 2010. Meanwhile Thunder Bay’s violent crime rate has risen by a per cent in that same period.
So how did the BC community combat its crime rate?
The answer to that question began a few years ago.
Abbotsford was named Canada’s murder capital by Maclean’s Magazine in both 2008 and 2009. The city’s murder rate per 100,000 people was 5.2 and 4.7 respectively.
According to Abbotsford Police Department Const. Ian MacDonald, the murder rate was a symptom of the area’s gang problems.
“You never know how that’s going to be perceived,” MacDonald says about being named the country’s murder capital.
“There can be situations where people see that type of news and they would prefer to be in denial or they may suggest that it is an isolated problem. We asked for assistance and support.
The request for help began with anti-gang initiatives, and a gang suppression unit.
But police initiatives alone didn’t help the city turnaround. Community interest was so intense that a single police presentation led to more than 25,000 people attempting to crowd an auditorium.
“We have 216 officers, 75 civilians and about 100 volunteers and there’s absolutely no way 400 people can turn around an entire city of 137,000 without the support of the 137, 000,” he says.
“To get 25,000-plus people out to see one of our anti-gang presentations in a city of a 137,000, I’m not familiar with another police department that has that kind of response. I think it’s remarkable.”
The community established two anti-gang strategies called business watch and bar watch.
The businesses follow a strict code that doesn’t serve patrons who show gang colours or misbehave. Breaking these rules could mean a patron is banned from all establishments that have signed onto the bar watch program.
Business watch works in a similar way, and is a large network that covers everything from fights to shoplifting to robberies.
“The nice thing about it is if we have a robbery, let’s say at a corner store or a family operated business, the information about the robbery goes through the entire network of business watch and everyone becomes aware of it.”
If a bar sees a recognized gangster, that staff member can simply place a call to police affectively anonymously just indicating that they have someone in their establishment that has previously been a problem.
Both the police and community strategies paid off.
In 2010, a murder rate of 2.3 per 100,000 people allowed the BC community to send its infamy east.
And that year Thunder Bay was declared Canada’s murder capital.
Thunder Bay will not be given the murder capital title for a second year in a row. But the city cannot boast the dramatic drop in crime that Abbotsford now champions.
But can knowing how Abbotsford fought its crime problem help Thunder Bay follow in the BC city’s footsteps?
For Sgt. Neil Herman, crime is much more complicated than that.
Sgt. Herman, who is with the Thunder Bay Police Service’s guns and gangs unit, says they’ve already done a lot to suppress the gangs in the city.
“I think it makes you want to look even harder to address that issue,” Herman says of owning the murder capital title in 2010.
“You’re working really hard and it’s disappointing and you wish that you could have a better view on a generalized Maclean’s article like that, but there’s so much to take into account.
“Policing is such a complicated business. It’s hard because I think overall Thunder Bay is a safe community. I really do. Every community has its issues.”
Thunder Bay Chief of Police J.P. Levesque adds that most murders in Thunder Bay revolve around drug and alcohol.
“Enforcement alone will not significantly reduce the crime rate. That's why we have actively sought the support of our community partners such as the Crime Prevention Council and the city's Drug Strategy.
“Everyone shares the same desire to see a reduction in crime and I think that our community is realizing that we need a holistic approach to crime prevention.”
Levesque says when a major publication labels a city based on statistics; it has an impact on how citizens feel regarding their safety and how we are perceived outside of the community.
While Levesque believes it’s misleading to compare Thunder Bay to Abbotsford, he says both have implemented similar policing strategies.
As for the business and bar watch programs, the police chief admits that he isn’t so sure the system would work here.
“Abbotsford has come up with a couple initiatives that are good for them and it works for them but they let themselves get behind the ball. They just started a gang unit. They have had gang problems there for years. Are we doing some things right? I think we are,” he says.
Thunder Bay Mayor Keith Hobbs shared Levesque’s feelings that the city has done well in starting to address the underlining conditions that have led to some of the homicides in the community.
The mayor says titles like murder capital of Canada cause a perception that the city isn’t safe. Hobbs now says he hears Thunder Bay being compared to Mexico City, Miami and Washington.
“You can’t control murder,” Hobbs says. “Homicides are always going to be there. If there’s a plus at least these aren’t stranger-on-stranger homicides. These people know each other.
“Being a violent city, we’ve always had a severe crime rate index. In 1996, the Thunder Bay Police Association came out publicly about the crime rate and the drug and alcohol abuse and three years ago, I came out publicly as president of the Police Association.
“It’s not news. It’s something we’ve been plagued with for years.”
Hobbs says he would like the courts to become tougher on reoffenders. He adds that there should be a three-strike rule for those that continually break the law.
The mayor also suggests that the judiciary should start banning repeat offenders from staying in the city.
“There’s a provision in the Criminal Code of Canada where you can ban someone from the city,” he says.
“You can tell them ‘you can’t reside here’ until their court case. You can put any conditions on it as a justice on a person that they deem necessary.
“Someone is from out of town and they are committing a crime in our city, part of their undertaking should be ‘don’t show up in the city of Thunder Bay until your trial.’”
Ultimately, Hobbs says any real change in the community requires the help of the citizens. And the mayor says he’s encouraged with what he has seen.
Follow Jeff Labine on Twitter @Labine_reporter
