With violent crime on the rise in the city of Windsor, a new initiative has been put into place to bring it under control.
In an impromptu press conference Monday, Mayor Drew Dilkens introduced what he called a "zero-tolerance" plan to fight crime in Windsor. The plan, which the mayor said has been in the works at City Hall for some time, consists of nine objectives designed to address the increase in reported offences.
The announcement comes after a violent weekend in Windsor, in which a murder took place at a downtown apartment building Saturday morning, and two people were injured in a stabbing early Sunday morning.
The city had already committed to hiring a dozen additional police officers and placing officers in a certain tactical unit to patrol areas of the city that are busy or have seen higher levels of crime. The mayor said this also addresses an increase in calls for service, keeping 911 dispatchers busy.
"We're seeing increases to calls to 911, increases in calls for service both to 911 and the non-emergency line," said Dilkens. "We need to take further action, more than the additional 12 officers we agreed to hire just a few months ago."
One key point of the zero-tolerance plan is handling criminals from outside of Windsor who are in the city but have outstanding warrants somewhere else. Dilkens said police will now make a proactive effort to get those people out of the city and to deal with their previous warrants.
"We will give the Windsor police discretion to return people, who are wanted on warrants in other jurisdictions, to fulfill the conditions of those warrants, and to deal with the charges that are outstanding," said Dilkens, "We will not become a haven for criminal activity. We will not let that happen."
The city is also creating an eight-officer foot patrol unit to work in the downtown area, especially on busy weekend nights. Officers will be able to sign up for this duty.
Other points in the initiative include requesting help from the provincial government in the form of funding similar to that used to fight guns and gangs in Toronto, which has seen an increase in gun violence this year. The federal government will also be asked for resources to curb crime related to the border. Also, the city will support Toronto's request to the provincial government to disallow those evicted from social housing for various offences from jumping the queue for priority re-housing.
Dilkens also said the city plans to work with Crime Stoppers to increase monetary rewards for information on offences involving drugs and violence. He is also asking city council to consider a bylaw for downtown nightclubs to install metal detectors as a condition of getting a business licence.
