A majority of respondents to a recent online survey about policing in Sarnia, said they would support an increase in police funding to better address community safety.
Public input, gathered from town hall meetings and a survey, to help develop a business plan for the Sarnia Police Service, found residents feel illicit drugs and dealing, theft, homelessness and trespassing to name a few have all gotten worse in their neighbourhoods.
The Sarnia Police Services Board was given an early look at the Strategic Business Plan Tuesday.
There were 1,028 total responses to the online questionnaire, compared to 600 in a phone survey in 2019. When asked if you would support an increase in funding for police, of the 921 responses, 85 per cent (779) said yes.
Police Chief Derek Davis said results showed the majority of residents feel less safe than they did a few years ago.
He said according to Statistics Canada, overall crime severity in Sarnia has been on a steady increase over the last four years, and the city is ranked 77th out of 326 communities with a population over 10,000.
"It's significant I would say," said Davis. "It's one of those things we should be looking at and we should be taking steps to address. I think everyone would like to be able to enjoy their community and feel safe in their community, we want the same of the citizens that we serve. If that is what the numbers are telling us, then we need to have a plan to address that to improve that for the citizens of Sarnia."
The final draft of the 2023-2025 Business Plan and 2023 Budget will be presented to the Sarnia Police Services Board for final approval next month.
"We can't do everything overnight, we have gotten here over many years and it's going to take some time to start to address some of these very deep and systemic issues that we're experiencing in our community," said Davis. "But, what we need is a plan and we're taking very much a strategic approach. What can we do next year to start us in the right direction, and then we can incrementally add to that the year after and the year after that, as long as we're headed in the right direction based on the business plan."
Acting Chair Paul Wiersma said the board will have to look at what takes precedence, and determine how to gear spending.
"We heard loud and clear that people want more resources to go to the police," said Wiersma. "So as a board, we need to take that input from the community and decide what the priorities are. We can't do everything, and we can't necessarily do everything in one year, some of it we may have to delay to second, third and fourth years."
Police services across Ontario are required to prepare a business plan at least every three years, according to the provincial government.