Since an overnight private security patrol has been running, it's reported 23 alleged crimes in progress.
The last week of July, Pads K9 Protection and Detection, a Timmins-based company, started patrolling the city overnight to help reduce vandalism and crime without straining police resources. The stats for the last week of July and full month of August were presented at the Sept. 26 Timmins council meeting.
The patrol reported having 789 interactions with people and reporting 23 alleged crimes in progress. The security officer contacted the fire department once and the police 23 times.
CAO Dave Landers said that police may not consider what is in the security report a crime in progress.
"But when the security services patrol was driving around and sees somebody looking in a store window with a flashlight and they call it in and they’re on scene, they’re looking at that as a crime in progress or a potential,” he said.
The interaction count also includes when a security officer talks to people in a neighbourhood.
“The key is engaging as many people as they can along the way and so that’s what a lot of that amounts to. Certainly not everybody that a security patrol comes into is someone up to no good,” said Landers.
The incident reports include garbage being noted 26 times, drug paraphernalia 53 times and one vandalism incidence. Landers said service requests are put in through the city to tackle these issues.
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The city is working with Pads K9 to improve the tracking and reporting of the pilot program, which covers the whole city not just the downtown area.
For some of the future reports, Mayor Michelle Boileau asked for stats by geographic location to be included.
Enhancements to the program are already happening.
At the request of the security officers, they've had sharps training.
“So they’re able to pick up sharps should they come across them as they’re on foot patrol or at a site and they notice them there," said Landers.
Poor or broken lighting is also being reported. For municipal issues, Landers said the city looks at it. If it's an issue on private property, he said the city makes a recommendation to the business or homeowner.
Coun. Steve Black isn't willing to celebrate the program's success just yet, though he said it's good that there has been intervention on 23 alleged crimes so far.
The contract is for one person patrolling each night.
While Black is happy that the security officers took the initiative on sharps training, he has concerns that it's slowing down the patrol.
With one person patrolling, he said there are a lot of areas not being covered. He'd like to see more resources put into the program until the Timmins Police Service is back at full complement.
When an experienced officer officially starts next month, the service will be at 85 officers. That is contingent on all of the local recruits at the September intake of Ontario Police College passing the provincial training.
Timmins Police is approved for 96 officers, but the highest number of officers it's ever had is 88. The police service's board hopes to hit the full complement in spring of next year.
RELATED: Experienced officer signs on at Timmins Police
Noting the alleged crimes in progress that were reported and only one act of vandalism, Coun. Lorne Feldman asked if the city can conclude that the program is working as a deterrent.
“One event of vandalism was witnessed and reported, there may very well have been others going on. I would say we’re still early in this process," responded Landers.
If the patrol chased "23 people away from doing something they shouldn't have been doing in that moment," Landers said those are 23 good news stories so far.
"I believe there’s more work to be done. And I think the vandalism was likely in relation to a police call and perhaps an attempted break-in,” said Landers.
“I think we’re having some impact. I think time will tell how deep that impact and certainly as our police force ramps up their service levels … that’s really what our public wants. I think we’ll get there, but it’s taking some time."
Timmins Police has started reporting crime statistics monthly at its board meetings, though the August data are not available yet. A look at the police calls from January to July is available here.
Anecdotally, Landers said he's heard from a couple of downtown business owners who are appreciative of the security patrol vehicles.
“I think time will tell. Once it becomes more visible and obvious presence and we continue to engage the police in dealing with the real criminals then this is a good line of defence in helping get them there and recognizing it,” he said.
