Edmonton mayoral candidate Mike Nickel says he would put more cops on the beat to try and battle crime in the city’s downtown..“Police presence is a deterrent to crime. One of the biggest impacts we can make is to get police out of their cars and back on the streets of our communities. This should address some of the gaps in customer service, provide deterrence, and provide added value in the efficiency of arrests and overall crime reduction,” says Nickel’s crime platform..“As Mayor, I will push strongly, for the creation of 18 ‘foot patrol only’ officers in our core. The cost of this program is roughly $4 million dollars. To put it in perspective, this is roughly 17% of what we gifted downtown developers in free grants.”.“Let’s get more feet on the street.”.Nickel and fellow councillor Tony Caterina – who has endorsed him – spoke on his crime initiative to a crowd of 500 in Chinatown this week..“For too long communities in our core, like Chinatown, have born the brunt of our city’s crime. It’s not fair and it is a growing problem, says his crime platform..“While I agree, most in our homeless population are vulnerable people who need compassion and assistance, we won’t tackle this problem with grandiose statements like the 10-year plan to end homelessness..“This plan will deal with crime and safety initiatives, including targeting the serial offenders who continually prey on their fellow homeless. We can no longer hide from the problem, it is growing and our downtown is not safe. Whyte Ave is also becoming dangerous with a recent string of murders and incidents.”.Nickel said he will work with Crown prosecutors to start throwing the book at serial offenders..“We have a serious problem with serial offenders who are targeting our vulnerable homeless community. They are further victimizing the homeless population and reducing the ability of social programs to work. The province must not allow these criminals to continue wreaking havoc on our streets. Our prosecutors must get tough. Along with the Justice department, we must all look at additional measures to target and address this criminal element,” he said..Nickel added there also needs to be a crackdown on homeless encampments in the city..“The Parks Service does not have the manpower to properly patrol vagrancy and encampments in parks areas. We all witnessed the protest camps in the summer of 2020 and the overflowing issues of crime and drug abuse. We can’t allow those scenes to become annual occurrences,” he said..“We must move the responsibility of vagrancy and encampments in centralized parks areas back into EPS jurisdiction. The additional 18 officers I am committing to should assist in this endeavor.”
