Community Safety and Well-Being Planning Grey-Bruce's Crime Prevention Action Table has identified four key areas to tackle when it comes to crime.
West Grey Police Service Chief Robert Martin is the Chair of the Crime Prevention Action Table. He explains that all the municipal police services in Grey and Bruce counties are part of it.
The action table is comprised of West Grey Police, Hanover Police, Owen Sound Police, Saugeen Shores Police, Neyaashiinigmiing Police, South Bruce O.P.P, Grey Bruce O.P.P, Crime Stoppers Grey Bruce, and Victim Services Bruce Grey Perth.
"Our primary goal is to identify issues that we're experiencing in the community and look forward and try to look at how all the action tables can collaborate with social services, and try to prevent and correct the concerns that our community has," explained Chief Martin.
Chief Martin says the four key areas were decided upon after public engagement through a survey, so the areas are all things that are significant to the community, including human trafficking.
"Human trafficking, we know, simply from media reports, it is a worldwide issue. It is going on and we know it is happening because we have had cases in West Grey and I know Saugeen Shores and Owen Sound has, as well. So it's coming into our area, it is a province-wide issue, the province has identified this as one of their concerns that they've identified through their grant cycles, as well. It is a community concern," said Chief Martin.
Another key area is drug trafficking.
"We are in an opioid crisis in Grey-Bruce just like the rest of North America right now. It is a concern, people are concerned about drugs coming into our community and the spin-off crimes that happen with that type of activity happening in our community," Chief Martin shared.
The third key area to tackle is intimate partner and gender-based violence.
"We know a number of municipalities have identified that as a state-of-emergency type scenario. Grey-Bruce hasn't yet, and doesn't have any of their municipalities doing it but I know some are looking at it," Chief Martin noted.
Finally, the fourth key area to focus on based on the community survey is road safety.
"Our number one concern for all our police services and the number one complaint we get is traffic. We get it all the time and we know that we're a tourist area and one of the most beautiful areas in the province, so in the summer our traffic increases. People are in a rush to get to where they want to go. But for all of the police services, road safety is usually in the top three for community concerns all the time," added Chief Martin.
As far as next steps, Chief Martin says the Crime Prevention Action Table will be rolling out educational and community outreach initiatives to educate the public on these four areas of concern.
"We already had set up one education component with the anti-human trafficking committee in Grey-Bruce, and it's a collaborative approach. We'll be looking at the issues and then reaching out to our other service partners to try to develop plans, education components, social media campaigns, training for our staff and municipal staff and other partners that we have," Chief Martin concluded.
To learn more about the Crime Prevention Action Table visit: https://cswbp.brucecounty.on.ca/priority-areas-of-action/