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Crime decreases downtown but still calls for improvement

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Recent stats from the Greater Sudbury Police Service show a decrease in reported incidents downtown. From break-ins to thefts and mischief, the numbers are down from the same time last year.

"We have seen notable decreases in mischief, break and enters, thefts and shoplifting and this can be partially attributed to increased pedestrian and vehicle traffic downtown ad well as focused patrols," said Kaitlyn Dunn, of the Greater Sudbury Police Service.

"And focused patrols are on officers on bike, on foot and in cruisers and these have increased by 168 per cent in comparison to the same time last year."

"Over the past two months... we have seen a notable decrease in the number of property crimes reported in the Downtown core in comparison to the same timeframe last year. This includes a significant decrease in the number of break and enters (down 43 per cent) and shoplifts (down 40 per cent), as well as, a decrease in the number of thefts (down 17 per cent) and mischiefs (down 16 per cent)," police said in a media release Wednesday.

Sgt. Matt Hall supervises the community response unit that oversees the downtown and says there is more positive foot traffic post-covid restrictions.

"When you have more positive foot traffic in that area it reduces some of the crime trends that you will see because there is less opportunity to perform or have negative behaviours," said Hall.

Sylvia Rios is the owner and operator, of La Casa Mexicana in downtown Sudbury beside the Laurentian School of Architecture. Her cash register was recently stolen at 4 a.m. with the suspect arrested shortly after.

"The way I find out was the very good team Laurentian University security has in here because they have cameras and they are checked on every minute," said Rios.

She said there are still issues downtown that are not good for business and deter foot traffic.

"I think the biggest concern sometime because they see people intoxicated walking downtown I guess. Like everybody see that so maybe that is a shock for them," added Rios.

Rios said business owners, police and city politicians need to sit down for serious discussions about keeping the downtown cleaner, safer and good for business.

"Problem-oriented Policing, a research driven and data-proven approach to the reduction of crime and social disorder relies heavily on community collaboration with social services agencies and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) as an effective way to address the perception of public safety and the visibility of crime," police said in the release.

"We look forward to our continued work with our community partners in addressing the perception of public safety and visibility of crime in the downtown core. We are committed to working collaboratively with our community partners with the ultimate goal of revitalizing downtown Sudbury to make it a more inviting place for community members, residents and business owners."

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