Fredericton launches dashboard to track public safety gambits, but most improvements aren't under its purview

CBC

3 days ago

A Fredericton council committee is starting to publicly track a laundry list of initiatives aimed at increasing public safety.
But while many of those initiatives are outside of the city's jurisdiction, Fredericton officials say they still want to illustrate progress for the public.
Fredericton CAO Steve Hart presented to the Public Safety Committee on Thursday afternoon, sharing a new public webpage dashboard tracking how the initiatives are being completed.
One slide presented to council showed that out of 47 initiatives, just 14 are fully within the city's jurisdiction. Another 29, including housing and health-care goals, are under the province's mandate, and four are either federal or jointly owned by different levels of government.
The 47 recommendations, created by a city task force that included residents and city and provincial officials, come after public concerns about rising crime and reports from downtown businesses about a recent spike in theft, property damage and vandalism.
In an interview, Hart said although the city can take its own actions, they won't have a substantial impact on public safety without the larger actions from the province.
Hart said it's important to show the public what actions are being completed, "even though [the city] doesn't have control over whether or not the province does make success or has challenges with those recommendations."
In terms of budget, Hart said any item recommendations under the city's actions that haven't been budgeted for already will be included in the budget process this fall.
The dashboard will include clear "milestones" and "success criteria" to measure how initiatives are tackled, but when asked by reporters about timelines, committee chair Eric Megarity said it "could be a 10-year plan, 20-year plan, but it's sort of what I call maybe an unending story."
"Are we ever going to solve it?" Megarity said. "I don't have those answers, but at least we're working towards this to exercise some control over the situation."
The presentation said the city has already secured federal funding for security infrastructure, such as security cameras and more trail lighting, as well as creating a 24/7 mobile outreach unit to serve vulnerable populations.
Other initiatives still in progress are lighting and security cameras for bus stops and streets, increased police presence in business districts and enhancing neighbourhood watch programs.
Fredericton Police Force Chief Gary Forward also told the committee that the force wants to establish a petty crimes unit by January and develop a "prolific offender" strategy.
Data clearly shows "there's a percentage of the population that is responsible for the majority of serious crimes," Forward said in an interview.
When asked whether petty crimes have not been a focus of the force, Forward said there have been staffing challenges, but said the force will be getting a dozen new graduates from the Atlantic Police Academy in the fall.
Forward said another initiative is to have the force take more advantage of the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods program, known as SCAN.
SCAN allows provincial officials to shut down buildings if they suspect illegal activity is happening there. Under SCAN, no criminal charges need to be laid or proven for an eviction to take place, but provincial officers must get an order from a judge to shut down a property or business.
Downtown Fredericton executive director Adam Peabody said in an interview that downtown business owners have been dealing with increased rates of crime, theft, vandalism property damage, and people being disruptive to customers and staff.
"I think this level of transparency, reporting, input collecting is going to be critical … to bring that collective action and build the safe community that we all know that we have and should be proud of," Peabody said.
Councillor says more accountability needed from province
The presentation was "a great start," said Coun. Bruce Grandy, "but when you bring partners in and all they're doing is feeding you information to feed us, there's no accountability there.
"There has to be some accountability of people standing in front of us if they're going to be our partner and be willing to take questions from us."
Megarity said he hopes to have the province come to the committee this fall, but that an appearance hasn't been agreed on yet.
Mayor Kate Rogers, who attended virtually, said public safety is a key priority for this council, and that despite the need for working with the province, there's still lots of room for the city to be nimble and deliver on recommendations.
"The way we laid this out is because we want residents to know what piece of this we own," Rogers said.
CBC News requested an interview with the Department of Public Safety, but an emailed statement was sent instead, which said the department is reviewing the city's report.
"We look forward to working with the city and stakeholders to address these important issues," said spokesperson Jadesola Emmanuel.