City council to dissolve Crime Prevention Ottawa, decision coming next week

Ottawa City Council is set to dissolve Crime Prevention Ottawa, with a decision coming next week.

The organization will be replaced with the Community Safety and Well-Being Advisory Committee, with hopes of creating a more integrated approach to Crime Prevention in Ottawa.

Crime Prevention Ottawa is a City-funded municipal board that works to reduce crime and improve safety in the community.

Funding research on downtown drug users and advocating for the removal of barriers facing young men with criminal records, is some of the important work of Crime Prevention Ottawa.

City Councillor for Barrhaven West, David Hill, told The Sam Laprade Show on July 5, that the organization’s work will be condensed into an advisory committee in order to provide better protection and services to the community.

The organization’s annual $1.2 million dollar budget would be redirected to the community safety and well-being plan, which sets out how the City works with community partners to improve resident safety and well-being.

“There are multiple organizations in the city looking to do things to better enhance safety in the community and we’re looking to streamline and make them as effective as possible,” said Hill.

If the decision is backed fully by city council next week, merging the two groups would happen as fast as possible.

According to Hill, this move will result in the advisory committee being more aligned with the City and explained that this is an administrative process of cleaning up our systems and merging boards.

”It’s not reducing the importance of crime prevention and in no way is it a loss of funding, it’s just being more aligned within the City in order to continue to help the people of Ottawa feel safe and secure,” said Hill.