A discussion regarding the safety of the Flin Flon community led to some heated moments at the last council meeting.
Several members of the public brought their questions to the June 5 regular meeting of council.
Kirk Raphael raised the issue during council’s question and answer period, saying that he is “deeply concerned” with the security of the area.
Bonnie Nabe and Brad Burke expressed similar concerns – all three cited incidents that occurred on Main Street, and wondered what plans council has to improve safety in the community.
Mayor Cal Huntley explained that council, along with RCMP and other stakeholders, are in the process of looking at the situation.
“We’re not going to speak because we haven’t determined what the actual activities are going to be … [it will be a] smaller meeting to get started, and we’ll see where it can go. But we’re as concerned as you are.”
Nabe wondered whether a public meeting would be held on the topic after council, RCMP and stakeholders met.
Huntley told her it wasn’t likely.
“Why not?” Nabe asked.
“What does the public need to know?” responded Huntley, who quickly added, “I’m kidding.”
Nabe did not think it was a laughing matter.
“I will happily leave if you don’t want to take it seriously. I take it pretty seriously that I can’t walk down Main Street at seven at night and not be accosted,” she said.
“It’s not funny at all. It’s not funny at all, and I apologize if you took it that way,” replied Huntley.
“If you are accosted when you walk down Main Street … then please, phone 911 and let the RCMP know. Because what we’ve run into is a lot of people coming and telling us things, and we talk to the RCMP and they say nobody called.”
Huntley stressed the importance of reporting crime to the police, and said he encourages everyone to call 911 to report any incidents, as those reports are documented.
“We can actually talk to them about specifics then [and say,] ‘Here’s what happened on this date at this time. You guys were called – what happened?’” said Huntley.
“But we go and talk to them, and they say, ‘It’s getting safer here.’ No one’s calling them. And so often you get, ‘What’s the point?’ We’ve got to get rid of that attitude.”
Huntley also said that he had no doubt the community will have to participate in the solution, once a strategy is determined.
“What you see on Main Street is the result of something else. What you have to do is determine what the root cause is and address the root cause,” he said.
Huntley later clarified that if a public meeting regarding community safety is deemed necessary, it will be organized.
Glenna Daschuk, administrator for the City of Flin Flon, said that in a recent meeting with the RCMP, the city was told statistics showed crime rates dropping.
“We all live here, we know what is going on. I would say that apathy is part of our problem,” said Daschuk.
“Facebook is not where this is going to get solved. Flin Flon Post It is not where this is going to get solved.”
Statistics released by the Flin Flon RCMP show that in 2017 crimes against the person were down five per cent from the four-year average, and property crime was down about 16 per cent from the four-year average.
“I do note, however, that these numbers only represent the calls for service and not the severity or the community impact of these crimes that were committed,” Sgt. Mark Svaren of the Flin Flon RCMP told The Reminder in an e-mail.
“There is little doubt that the community feels more impacted by the crimes committed today than they have in the past, which is reason enough to continue this conversation and find ways to reduce this impact.”
While the statistics show a decrease in property crime and crime against the person, they do not reflect the total volume of calls responded to by the Flin Flon RCMP, or calls for offences including public intoxication and breaches of court conditions.
While statistics on property crime and crime against the person have decreased, the number of police files attended has increased steadily over the last four years.
In 2014 the total number of files was 1,484, while in 2017 the total number reached 2,756.
The number of prisoners lodged each year has more than doubled since 2014, reaching 695 in 2017.
Svaren said the RCMP was directed to increase foot patrols in the uptown area beginning in April, and the detachment will begin to provide the city with a log of these patrols to better quantify the RCMP’s efforts.
He added that Flin Flon RCMP rely on the community to report crime when it happens.
“While we do have some pro-active strategies to increase police visibility, we often are responding to complaints from community members in order to address specific criminal occurrences,” said Svaren.
Crime statistics are used by the RCMP to determine the appropriate number of police officers posted in a location. Svaren said if crime is under-reported, then the Flin Flon detachment may not have the appropriate number of human resources to properly serve the community.
The statistics are also reviewed on a monthly basis and compared to the same time period of the previous year to attempt to identify trends and allow for a more targeted approach by RCMP members.
Flin Flon residents can call 911 or 204-687-1422 to report an emergency, or 204-687-1423 to report a non-emergency complaint.
