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Crime prevention group moves on to the island
New chapter in Ste. Anne de Bellevue
Kristina Edson
The Gazette
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Montreal police will soon have several new partners when it comes to preventing crime in Ste. Anne de Bellevue.
Kirkland’s neighbourhood Station 1, which serves Baie d’Urfé, Beaconsfield, Kirkland, Ste. Anne de Bellevue and Senneville, announced recently that it will adopt a unique citizen-led security concept that has been successfully used by residents and the Sûreté du Québec in at least 15 towns in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region.
During an information meeting held last week in Ste. Anne, residents were able to learn about the Citizens’ Action Committee on Public Security, which will work alongside police on prevention projects.
Efforts can include educating drivers about respecting stop signs, obeying posted speed limits or preventing home robberies.
This will be the first time the concept has been used by a police force other than the SQ.
Station 1 commander Marc St. Cyr says it is not like Neighbourhood Watch programs, because residents stand alongside officers when carrying out prevention campaigns rather than simply phoning tips into police.
“It’s a lot more proactive,” St. Cyr said. “Citizens will work hand in hand with police.”
The model differs also in that while towns generally agree to support the groups, elected officials do not sit on committees, something that appealed to Ste. Anne de Bellevue Mayor Bill Tierney.
“There is no intermediary between the police and the citizens,” Tierney said. “It’s not the mayor who runs it. It’s my neighbour who’s going to make it work and it’s the police who back him up.”
Residents interested in joining the Ste. Anne group must agree to background checks and sign code of ethics agreements.
The first Citizens Action Committee on Public Security was formed three years ago in St. Lazare following a rash of break-ins.
The initial prevention campaign had residents and police going door to door to hand out bilingual pamphlets on how to decrease the chances of a home robbery.
According to SQ statistics, St. Lazare’s crime rates have consistently decreased since the group formed in 2005. There was a 60-per-cent drop the first year alone.
Since then more than two-thirds of the 23 towns in the off-island area have created their own committees, always in partnership with the SQ, which has funded things like printing costs for information brochures.
Hudson has begun the process of forming its own committee and will host an information meeting Dec. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Stephen F. Shaar Community Centre, 394 Main Rd., in Hudson.