Part 3 – Autumn – the fallout from a bloody four months on the streets of Peel

While residents typically support that kind of move, they rarely make the connection between a ballooning police budget and the size of the property tax bill that arrives in their mailbox. And here’s where Brampton residents’ two top concerns in The Pointer’s poll intersect. Some of those complaining about steep tax hikes might have second thoughts about paying for extra cops if they thought there were other, less-expensive ways to improve crime-fighting capacity and make the force more effective in keeping the community safe.

“When the public is responding, they’re quite often responding with their perceptions and their emotions, and not looking at the true numbers,” Scott Blandford explains. He’s an assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University and the coordinator of its master of public safety program. More, more, more is almost always the wrong approach to effective policing, he says. 

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After the end of a violent summer, the 2018 municipal election became a wakeup call for candidates who didn’t realize that crime had become the number one concern for many Mississauga and Brampton residents. The public pushed for action, and they eventually got it; a budget increase and more officers on the streets in 2019. But would it help?

Meanwhile, the controversial chief of police announced she was stepping down. 

This is the third and final part of a series on a year of crime in 2018 that has still left politicians and the public searching for answers in two of the country’s largest cities.

Published on October 7, 2019 in The Pointer - Brampton and The Pointer - Mississauga