Windsor police have released statistics after the first year of the a public safety initiative in the Glengarry neighbourhood in downtown Windsor.
Police say crime in the area has dropped significantly, with notable reductions in violence as well as property and drug-related offences.
In August 2024, Windsor police launched the initiative in response to ongoing concerns of crime and disorder in the 300 and 400 blocks of Glengarry Avenue.
Officers were teamed up with with trained nurses and crisis response teams for a collaborative strategy that focused on enhanced police actions, targeting underlying issues that contribute to crime and social disorder, and building meaningful relationships between community service providers and residents.
The year-over-year improvements according to Windsor police include:
Ward 3 councillor Renaldo Agostino told AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides that it was great news.
"When everybody is working together, when you put the commitment in, you get out what you put in, and the work's been put in to Glengarry and we're getting out the results so it's good news for that particular part of downtown for sure," Agostino said.
Agostino said the hard work that he and other city groups have been putting in to downtown often gets overshadowed by the mental health and addictions crisis.
"We're having a hard time dealing with that right, and we need more help. That's kind of what I was saying today, like, this is great but we need more help, we can't put our heads in the sand and we can't celebrate a victory. We've got to keep pushing and we've got to go for the big one, and the big one is the mental health and addictions crisis," he said.
Agostino said he has urged the provincial government to show more urgency and pointed to British Columbia as an example.
Last year B.C. expanded involuntary care for those with mental health and addictions issues.
"Until we deal with this severe, people who are suffering from severe trauma, severe mental health issues, brain injuries in some cases, from some of the things that they've been doing, we're spinning our tires. We've got to get to that and that's one of these things that I really want to focus on over the next six months," Agostino said.
As part of the initiative, Windsor police and partner agencies have hosted several community care fairs in the neighbourhood, giving residents on-site access to health services, social supports, and crime prevention resources.
-With files from CTV Windsor