Sturgeon Falls was busy on Thursday with Northern Ontario police personnel in the community talking about policing. They heard details about a relatively new crime prevention program called community safety planning. Deputy Chief Andrew Fletcher of the South Simcoe Police says this involves building more formal relationships with agencies like education, health and social services.
Fletcher says sometimes these groups can do what the police can’t like help a child who’s not getting the help he needs for whatever reason. He says using multi-sector interventions, these groups can determine if the child gets enough support at home. If help is needed, they might be able to provide funding to help buy sports equipment Fletcher says putting someone on the straight and narrow before they get out of control goes a long way toward crime prevention.
He says examples of this type of policing at work can be seen at facebook.com/communitysafety Fletcher says the police creating more formal partnerships with other agencies, means more efficient use of existing resources for everyone. The conference continue on Friday.