By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

City to tackle new community safety objectives in 2019/2020

Dec 11, 2018 | 12:09 AM

The City of Red Deer is moving ahead with new objectives which stem from its two-year-old Community Safety Strategy.

A report was given to city council on Monday which outlined some of the work done by the Systems Leadership Team over the last 18 months.

The team is comprised of representatives from nine organizations: Red Deer Public Schools, Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools, the Justice department, Children and Family Services, the RCMP, Alberta Health Services, the Urban Aboriginal Voices Society, and The City of Red Deer’s Protective Services and Community Services departments.

“In order to make system changes, and to really make an impact in the long-term, it was identified that that group needed to come together,” states Paul Goranson, Director of Protective Services. “Today’s report back outlined that we’ve done some foundational work, and now we’ve developed a specific work plan for 2019 and 2020 that has some specific outcomes we’re trying to achieve over the next two years.

“This whole initiative is looking upstream at what we can do now that’s going to help reduce crime and increase community safety 10-15 years from now. It’s one of those initiatives that if we don’t look at it now and all we do is deal with the issues of the day, then nothing’s really going to change.”

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Director of Community Services Sarah Cockerill adds that it can’t just be The City of Red Deer who is solely responsible for community safety.

“One of the great achievements we’ve had is bringing all these players to the table – the schools, the health, the justice, the police – all to one table to talk about our role in being leaders in our community and how we can create that sustainable systemic change,” she says. “Then it goes right down to families and neighbourhoods and individuals. We’re really going to be working over the next while with our partners in bringing the community in to be responsible for the over-arching issue of community safety.”

Outcomes identified in the report include:

1) Identifying and responding to systems-level community issues,

2) Connecting the Systems Leadership Team to existing collaboratives, addressing community safety, and an Integration Team will be developed by the end of 2019,

3) Creating common data collection practices and opportunities for efficient information sharing by 2020,

4) Exploring additional sources of funding and resourcing for Community Safety Initiatives,

5) Informing the community on current progress, the role of the SLT, and promoting individual opportunities to engage in community safety, including the potential development of a website dedicated to community safety, and

6) Ensuring that Downtown Red Deer is a space for all citizens to share and is recognized as a safe and inclusive place.

More on The City’s Community Safety Strategy is at RedDeer.ca.