Aaron_Lloyd
Active Member
...or, you know, the province is acting on the increasing frustration of Edmontonians caused by the city failing to keep them safe.
Last edited:
|
|
|
- Thread starter Stevey_G
- Start date
Most of the blame falls on the police. The city can't direct their operations - hopefully this letter means they'll shape up.
Aaron_Lloyd
Active Member
A fair amount of the blame falls on the police, no doubt.... but also who do you think appoints the police commission? 
Last edited:
That much I agree with you on. But think about what you're implying - council's main failing is that they haven't purged the commission (even though it's supposed to be apolitical) and strong armed EPS into getting off their ass.A fair amount of the blame falls on the police, no doubt.... but also who do you think appoints the police commission?
That and the loitering bylaw.
Gronk!
Senior Member
The_Cat
Senior Member
Sounds like this shooting was just outside the Ice District at 103 Street and 103 Avenue. Probably not even people who watched the Oilers game.
IanO
Superstar
Ouch
Greenspace
Senior Member
^Love Maria, but might be unrealistic that her place is 'packed 24/7'. I haven't seen them do any advertising.
Greenspace
Senior Member
Opinion: City council must let police commission and EPS do their jobs
I would like send kudos to our police commission and all the employees of the Edmonton Police Service. Not just our sworn police officers, but to each employee that…
edmontonjournal.com
ChazYEG
Senior Member
I don't disagree with him, as much as having this opinion might be unpopular with some.Opinion: City council must let police commission and EPS do their jobs
I would like send kudos to our police commission and all the employees of the Edmonton Police Service. Not just our sworn police officers, but to each employee that…
TAS
Senior Member
I'm just having a hard time understanding why EPS cut the number of dt patrols in half over the last few years - it's their decision to make but I just don't get it. I'm sure they have evidence-based rationale but I just haven't heard it.
And now they are increasing resources now? Why? What is different from their perspective now versus 3 or 6 months ago? Political pressure? Public pressure? How are they making their patrol decisions?
I would hazard a guess no other area of the city has had resources in their area reduced that much and yet the property destruction dt and people encountering unsafe situations grew from what I am observing.
roe_
Active Member
I don't think Mr. Billett is fairly characterizing what is happening at Council. The police are the largest line item in the city's budget and are approaching half a billion dollars between direct funding and other sources of income like ticket revenue. As I understand it, Edmonton is the only municipality in Alberta that guarantees funding increases to the police using a formula based on population growth -- every other city department in Edmonton must come to Council on a 4 year cycle to have their budget allocations approved.Opinion: City council must let police commission and EPS do their jobs
I would like send kudos to our police commission and all the employees of the Edmonton Police Service. Not just our sworn police officers, but to each employee that…
The current proposal, as I understand it, is not a budget reduction . Erin Rutherford is suggesting a base level annual budget for the police of about $345 million, which can be supplemented by service package requests for additional funding, which is the same process for other city departments. My understanding is that this is intended to ensure that if the police want to buy a second airplane, for example,. they would have to come to Council with a service package request and explain why they need the money. Once approved, the Police Commission would be responsible for determining how that money is being spent and Council would not have any further say in what happens
My understanding is that Calgary also uses the service package model, which ensures more transparency in police funding. The current formula being used guarantees an ever-increasing budget for the police and I can certainly see why they don't want to give that up. That said, I think it is disingenuous to call this "defunding" because no other police service in Alberta budgets in this manner.
ChazYEG
Senior Member
A lot of it has to do with the huge number of sworn officers on many kinds of leave (medical, etc...), which is at around 190 at the moment, if I am not mistaken.
Then there was the pandemic and DT basically shut down for over a year, which only made things worse on that front (and I think was a very bad move from EPS)
Occurrences have gone up and, worse than that, public opinion has drastically worsened over the past few months, especially after the most recent (a month or so) events in the LRT and Chinatown. As much as we don't like it, public opinion matters a lot on policy making.
Greenspace
Senior Member
I have my own thoughts on the EPS resourcing issues of Downtown, all of the above are probably issues but I'm pretty concerned Downtown got caught in a political fight between Council and EPS, which is unacceptable. I' think some pretty pointed questions need to be asked at police commission, in addition to all the other issues going on to try to figure out how to deal with the complex issue of Downtown safety.
IanO
Superstar
Mayor Sohi speaks with Jespersen about policing and Downtown safety.
12:30 onward
12:30 onward