THUNDER BAY – Focus on the positive.
That’s the message delivered Monday night by crime prevention council co-ordinator Lee-Ann Chevrette when asked by Mayor Keith Hobbs how to counter the city police’s reputation across the country.
Hobbs, a former police officer, had suggested it was unfair treatment.
“How do we support police when the national media has them in their cross-hairs?” the mayor asked during a presentation Chevrette and crime prevention council chair Jeff Upton were making during the weekly committee of the whole meeting at city hall.
“How do we get that message out to the nation?”
Chevrette’s immediate response was she didn’t have the answer, acknowledging it’s a difficult situation.
Thunder Bay police have come under fire on a number of occasions in recent years, accused of treating Aboriginal people unfairly and not investigating crimes involving them as thoroughly as crimes involving non-Aboriginals.
Earlier this month CBC’s Fifth Estate put police Chief J.P. Levesque on the hot seat, questioning his department’s investigation into the Oct. 18, 2015 death of Stacy DeBungee, whose body was found submerged in the McIntyre River.
The broadcaster alleged police ruled the death non-suspicious too quickly, without making proper effort to interview witnesses, two of whom the CBC spoke to for the story and who said there was more to DeBungee's death than first met the eye.
Chevrette said it’s clear a lot of work needs to be done to establish trust again.
“There are some situations that have happened in the community that have drawn a lot of negative attention,” Chevrette said.
“We have to focus on the positive.”
Hobbs said he’s not sure the message will have an impact.
“They just don’t want to hear it,” Hobbs said.
