THUNDER BAY – The city’s chief of police, J.P. Levesque, said the Eye on the Street program is worth a quarter-million dollars.
“We like the program. It’s a useful tool for us in solving crimes and getting them through the court system,” the Thunder Bay Police Service chief said Monday at the police services board meeting.
City council discussed the Eye on the Street program in August and some councillors questioned its value. The program, which costs $250,000, features 16 police service cameras stationed in the city with the goal of deterring crime.
Levesque told the police services board that the cameras recorded 69 incidents that resulted in 25 charges. Of those charges, there 13 convictions and 11 are still before the court. One charge was withdrawn.
“Can you put a price on solving 25 crimes? It’s a relatively small number, I realize that, but for a quarter-million dollars, I think it’s a worthwhile program,” said Levesque.
Board chairman Joe Virdiramo also thinks Eye on the Street is a valuable program and agreed you can’t put a price on solving crime.
Virdiramo also said the cameras may have to be moved from time to time.
“Once you focus on a specific area in relation to crime and you start solving that crime, the criminals move,” he said. “I think we’ll go with them and find out where they are, take more pictures of them and solve more crimes.”
Also presented at Monday meeting was the annual report for 2011, which included the crime rates released in July.
The report also included the results of an online citizen satisfaction survey the police asked the public to complete and Levesque said they had 1,000 more responses than last year.
“It gives us a better indication of what the people of the community are expecting from us, where we can improve,” he said.
The survey results state that people want the police to increase visibility and accessibility, have quicker response times, improve safety in neighbourhoods and have better communication with the public.
And while people feel safe during the day, their perception of safety dramatically falls during the night.
The police service is losing the police officer recruitment fund from the federal government which means they could lose two officers from the beat patrol program.
As the police board heads into budget talks next meeting, the chief said if the board is looking to cut that $145,000 from the budget, they’re going to have to cut two positions.
“I can tell you that it won’t be from the beat officer program,” Levesque said. “We feel the program is very important. We know the business community and the two cores like the program. People who frequent the areas like to see the beat officers.”
Virdiramo said that is something the board is going to have to consider seriously in its budget talks as the program is doing well and he would like to see the program expand, possibly into the evenings.
“That’s going to cost money. If our citizens feel safer by having that program at whatever time, I think it’s money well spent,” he said.
Also in the citizen satisfaction story, when people were asked where they get their news on the Thunder Bay Police, 31 per cent said tbnewswatch.com and 26 per cent said Thunder Bay Television. Twenty-one per cent go to the Chronicle-Journal.
