- 注册
- 2002-10-07
- 消息
- 402,222
- 荣誉分数
- 76
- 声望点数
- 0
As Mayor Jim Watson told reporters Wednesday he will meet with the chief of police and police board chair next week to discuss what is shaping up to be another record-setting year of gunfire in the city, Ottawa police drug and general assignment detectives will now assist guns and gangs cases, the Citizen has learned.
Watson said the increase in shootings, which put the city on pace to tie last year’s record of 49 for the year, was a “concern” of his.
“I’ve arranged to meet with the chief and the chair sometime next week to get an update on progress they’re making,” Watson said.
Watson also said that the shootings were “one of the reasons why we’ve supported the police request to add 25 more officers,” referencing 25 recruits that the police force plans to hire in 2016 within the budget confines that city council set for it. The draft police budget, which the police board will be asked to approve on Monday, is quite clear that the officers and their salaries, estimated at $1.3 million, will be paid for by the service’s penny-pinching.
The 25 officers, to be hired in April and September, will be patrol officers, but it’s not yet clear whether the anti-gang squad, consisting of eight detectives, will see any permanent boost in its numbers.
Even with his concerns, Watson said, however, that the city has to “rely on the expert advice of the police and the guns and gangs unit to try to do their best to curb these (shootings) and ultimately eliminate them.”
Earlier this year the city pledged $300,000 annually to fund a gang-exit strategy that is being delivered by the John Howard Society and Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization.
News of the pending meeting and of the unofficial reallocation of bodies to the guns and gangs unit comes after the city recorded its 42nd shooting Tuesday night.
Mohamed Affat walked into the Queensway Carleton Hospital around 9 p.m. Tuesday after having taken a bullet to the buttock. His injuries were non-life threatening and it’s believed he drove himself to the hospital. At the hospital, police seized his vehicle.
Police believed the shot was fired by occupants of another vehicle in the area of Banner and Greenbank roads, but had not confirmed the location. The victim was not co-operating with investigators.
Affat’s brother Haider was one of two men shot on Dec. 4, 2014, on Penny Drive, a hot spot for shootings last year, in an altercation that broke out in a parking lot. He was charged with drug- and firearms-related offences after a police raid in January.
Watson continued to say that crime rates are down and echoed Chief Charles Bordeleau’s assertion that the city is a safe one, but he wouldn’t overlook the impact of bullets flying in Ottawa.
“Thank goodness there have not been 40 people shot. There’ve been over 40 shootings, but if you have a gunshot going through your wall and it’s landing on a mirror or a couch, that’s a traumatic experience for that family and that neighbourhood, so we have to continue to be vigilant.”
syogaretnam@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/shaaminiwhy
查看原文...
Watson said the increase in shootings, which put the city on pace to tie last year’s record of 49 for the year, was a “concern” of his.
“I’ve arranged to meet with the chief and the chair sometime next week to get an update on progress they’re making,” Watson said.
Watson also said that the shootings were “one of the reasons why we’ve supported the police request to add 25 more officers,” referencing 25 recruits that the police force plans to hire in 2016 within the budget confines that city council set for it. The draft police budget, which the police board will be asked to approve on Monday, is quite clear that the officers and their salaries, estimated at $1.3 million, will be paid for by the service’s penny-pinching.
The 25 officers, to be hired in April and September, will be patrol officers, but it’s not yet clear whether the anti-gang squad, consisting of eight detectives, will see any permanent boost in its numbers.
Even with his concerns, Watson said, however, that the city has to “rely on the expert advice of the police and the guns and gangs unit to try to do their best to curb these (shootings) and ultimately eliminate them.”
Earlier this year the city pledged $300,000 annually to fund a gang-exit strategy that is being delivered by the John Howard Society and Ottawa Community Immigrant Services Organization.
News of the pending meeting and of the unofficial reallocation of bodies to the guns and gangs unit comes after the city recorded its 42nd shooting Tuesday night.
Mohamed Affat walked into the Queensway Carleton Hospital around 9 p.m. Tuesday after having taken a bullet to the buttock. His injuries were non-life threatening and it’s believed he drove himself to the hospital. At the hospital, police seized his vehicle.
Police believed the shot was fired by occupants of another vehicle in the area of Banner and Greenbank roads, but had not confirmed the location. The victim was not co-operating with investigators.
Affat’s brother Haider was one of two men shot on Dec. 4, 2014, on Penny Drive, a hot spot for shootings last year, in an altercation that broke out in a parking lot. He was charged with drug- and firearms-related offences after a police raid in January.
Watson continued to say that crime rates are down and echoed Chief Charles Bordeleau’s assertion that the city is a safe one, but he wouldn’t overlook the impact of bullets flying in Ottawa.
“Thank goodness there have not been 40 people shot. There’ve been over 40 shootings, but if you have a gunshot going through your wall and it’s landing on a mirror or a couch, that’s a traumatic experience for that family and that neighbourhood, so we have to continue to be vigilant.”
syogaretnam@ottawacitizen.com
twitter.com/shaaminiwhy
查看原文...
