Pubdate: Thu, 26 Jul 2012 Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN) Copyright: 2012 The StarPhoenix Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400 Author: Gerry Klein Page: A8 NO MAGIC FIX TO REDUCING CRIME Considering that Saskatoon ranks among the most violent, crime-ridden cities in Canada and Toronto among its safest, it would seem that Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited the wrong mayor. Canada's top politician dropped in on Toronto Mayor Rob Ford on Tuesday to talk about gun violence. As has traditionally been the political response to issues of crime, however, they weren't meeting to talk solutions as much as to capitalize on the attention. Meanwhile, back in Saskatoon, where according to Statistics Canada's latest report, the overall and violent crime rates lag only those of nation leading Regina and Winnipeg, the debate over how to turn things around must be a little more grounded than mugging for the cameras. Police Chief Clive Weighill took some solace in the fact that, as bad as the numbers are in Saskatoon, things are improving. This is partly because there are more police officers on the street, Weighill notes. But he told The StarPhoenix this week that success in reducing crime also hinges on addressing societal problems such as poverty, poor housing and unemployment. Among the top problems confronting Weighill's service are gang violence and illicit drugs. Given that, it was hard not to notice that Wednesday's front page contained two stories on crime statistics and one that lamented the lack of support for Saskatoon's methadone program. The city doesn't have enough resources to meet the needs of a large population of addicts. Doctors are having to focus their efforts on pregnant women and people infected with HIV. The problem is that drug addiction has an impact that extends far beyond these populations. Left unchecked, it leads to more problems involving gang violence, property crimes, sex offences and assaults. By not working to deal with things at a manageable level, Saskatoon is left to deal with the consequences. This isn't the only area that Saskatoon and Saskatchewan fall short. In spite of the dedicated efforts of a number of community and social groups, this province continues to have too many of its children living in poverty, overcrowded housing and hunger. There are too few programs to deal with such basics as literacy, making the adjustment from rural to urban life, and dealing with the after-effects of the dysfunctional residential school system. A recently released study by McMaster University professor Scott Davies found that students in less affluent, less educated families routinely lose about a month of reading skills over the summer, while students who have rich, well-educated parents gain that much. This reinforces the disparity of opportunities for the respective groups. I had coffee this week with Rusty Chartier, a longtime community advocate and former police officer who believes that hunger often pushes good kids to do bad things. He has converted the city easement by his greenhouse business to a vegetable garden, and he invites those who need the food to help themselves. It's Chartier's belief that there is a lot of civic land being wasted in Saskatoon - particularly in the city's core neighbourhoods - that could be converted to food production. This land could be made available to schools or volunteers to teach children how to raise food and be more self-sufficient while learning how to better integrate themselves into the community. In the heat of the discussion last week about Toronto's crime problem, the Globe and Mail ran a couple of stories about Prince Albert's holistic approach to crime reduction. It was started by Police Chief Dale McFee, who is also president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police. Based on a model from Glasgow, Scotland, P.A. is co-ordinating various community agencies, tracking results, using the evidence to adjust procedures and trying to prevent people and families at risk from falling through the cracks. It's clear there is no single strategy that will serve as a silver bullet to a problem as complex as crime. If locking up all criminals works, then Saskatchewan, with among the highest per-capita incarceration rates in Canada, wouldn't be so near the top of crime statistics. Regina and Saskatoon's persistently poor performance in crime rates should be evidence that a much more concerted and textured strategy is warranted, ranging from enhanced drug programs such as safe injection sites to year-round literacy and food programs to greater community involvement and, most importantly, a willingness among all partners - including federal, provincial and local governments - to coordinate their responses and adopt evidence-based solutions rather than engage in political showboating. Although the crime numbers are getting better in Saskatchewan, we are far from claiming we have a solution until we get better relative to the rest of Canada. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt