North Bay's mayor believes downtown North Bay has become a safer place to go, due in part to the North Bay Police Service ramping up its foot patrols this summer within the downtown core of the city.
Mayor Peter Chirico, who is also on the North Bay Police Board, says they definitely identified some needs of businesses and residents of downtown North Bay coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
From January to March 2024 North Bay police officers averaged two hours per month of foot patrols per month downtown. From April to August, NBPS averaged 25 hours of foot patrols per month downtown. Those numbers are only for foot patrol and don't include bike or cruiser patrol downtown.
"We are very pleased to see, number one, that we've deployed a lot more officers in our downtown area, both walking patrols with foot patrols, bike patrols and cruiser patrols. You know, it's gone from approximately two hours to over 25 hours, which is tremendous. And we see the presence, and we hear from our merchants, and we hear from our residents downtown, but they're pleased to see that police presence in the downtown," said Chirico.
Daryl Longworth, North Bay's police chief, believes the praise belongs on the shoulders of the officers.
"So all the credit goes to our members for that productive effort they put forward to the community," said Longworth.
"It makes me, as the chief, very pleased to hear the positive comments from the community that they're seeing our officers. They appreciate the time that our officers are spending and not just walking around, but they appreciated the fact that our officers are stopping in and talking to them and engaging them in conversation and listening to what they have to say. So that makes me very proud as the chief, that our members are really delivering on what the community expects them to do."
Positive Crime Severity Index numbers
The Police Service also unveiled some positive Crime Severity Index numbers in the community.
The Crime Severity Index tracks changes in the severity of police-reported crime by accounting for both the amount of crime reported by police in a given jurisdiction and the relative seriousness of the crimes.
North Bay has dropped from 101 in 2019 within the overall crime severity index in Canada to 91 in 2023.
The violent crime index numbers from 2019 have escalated from 98 to 119.6. However, those numbers still sit well behind other northern communities like Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Timmins and Sault Ste. Marie.
"I think it's a good indicator to members of the community, that it is a safe community, that your police service has been responding," said Longworth.
"It's a credit to our members. We can't pick the work we do, we respond to calls for service in the community. So I think those numbers speak to the overall health of the community as well. So I think it's good for the community, and not just the police service, to recognize that continuing downward trend in the Crime Severity Index."
