Province antes up for crime prevention

It just became more difficult for criminals in the city to ply their trade, thanks to a $100,000 investment in Greater Sudbury Police Service to implement a Crime Prevention through Early Recognition and Intervention program.

It's a program that will bring together community agencies to work collaboratively to identify and address risk factors associated with crime and victimization, said Police Chief Frank Elsner.

“We very much look forward to working with our partners through sharing information and engaging the most appropriate organizations to intervene collaboratively to reduce elevated risk situations and increase community safety,” Elsner said in a news release.

The program is being funded through the province’s Proceeds of Crime Front-Line Policing grant. Assets obtained through criminal activities are seized by the province as proceeds of crime, and the grant program makes these funds available to police services across Ontario to fund crime prevention initiatives and equipment.

“We’re providing more resources to help police fight crime,” said Sudbury MPP Rick Bartolucci. “This initiative deprives criminals of the proceeds of crime and provides opportunity for our hard-working police who are working to make the community of Greater Sudbury safer and stronger.

“Crime prevention is a key element of our Youth Action Plan. By using the proceeds of crime, we’re helping support front-line policing and keeping our community safe.”

The overall youth crime rate in Ontario is 23 per cent lower than in 2000. The youth violent crime rate is also down by 17 per cent over the same period, better than the national rate, which dropped 10 per cent.

Ontario is investing over $20 million in new funding to support the Youth Action Plan – efficiencies and savings were found to fully offset the cost of expanded and new programs. The Youth Action Plan will benefit an additional 13,000 young people each year by moving forward on 20 initiatives.