Proactive community safety was the focus on a town hall on Ottawa Street Wednesday evening.
Windsor Police hosted a town hall community meeting, in conjunction with the City of Windsor and the local BIA, to foster community engagement and address community concerns.
It featured several speakers that addressed various issues and answered questions, including Ward 4 city councillor Mark McKenzie and Windsor Police Director of Planning and Physical Resources Barry Horrobin.
A small crowd gathered in the basement of Storytellers Bookstore on Ottawa to take part in the meeting.
Horrobin says it was a part of the police's program throughout the city where officers are assigned to neighbourhoods and engage with the local Business Improvement Associations.
He says the meeting was a chance to have a more detailed and focused conversation on things that matter to people in the neighbourhood.
"I wouldn't say it's based on something that came up specifically, I think they're being proactive. To say hey, what can we do to make our BIA and our area more attractive to employees, residents in the area and visitors to their businesses and surrounding neighbourhood," he said.
Horrobin says it was an opportunity to raise awareness about certain things, and provide information on how people can take proactive steps to make their community safer.
"Give them some pointers on things, when they see certain things, what does that mean? What should they do when they observe certain activity or certain incidents happening. And then how they can follow up with the proper agency to get action taken to address that under the umbrella of community safety and well being. So we're trying to make every neighbourhood, one neighbourhood at a time, safer, better and more comfortable."
McKenzie says it was a collaborative effort to put the meeting together, and it provided a forum for people to express their opinions, raise concerns, and engage with other business owners as well.
The proactive aspect of it is something McKenzie says he's always been in favour of, and believes police and by-law partners are always good sounding boards for residents on ideas.
"Add more lighting, some cameras if we need to, and just get the community more involved. Have the eyes and ears out there right, it goes back to when we were kids and that's what they used to say in school, if you see something say something and it's true. I'm totally in favour of being proactive," he said.
McKenzie has also heard that people have concerns about the strengthen the core plan downtown, in particular some worry that if they're going to start being aggressive there could some of the problems spread to other areas.
On top of that, other issues discussed included homelessness, mental health and addictions, as well as petty theft.
"I know the Dollarama's had some issues, and we've seen some broken windows and stuff down this street, but we've actually gotten better. We haven't really had many incidents so far this year, and again it's because we've been proactive on that. We've been adding more police walks up and down the street, residents are now engaged a little bit more, and me as a councillor I know where some of the issues are and here's what we're going to do to address them."
McKenzie says crime is down in the Ottawa Street BIA overall, along with Erie Street and Walkerville, so the meeting was also a chance to discuss what's working too.
A similar meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 21, for residents that live around Erie Street.