ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT
Date: July 12, 1996
Dept. File No.
TO: Vancouver City Council
FROM: City Manager
SUBJECT: Progress Report - Safer City Initiatives
INFORMATION
The City Manager submits this report for INFORMATION to Council as
an update on City departments and Committees activities relating to
the implementation of Safer City recommendations and emerging urban
safety issues.
COUNCIL POLICY
On June 8, 1993, Council resolved:
THAT Safer City issues be included in work plans of all City departments
and committees with particular attention paid to work relating to
disadvantaged people such as children and youth at risk, immigrants and
refugees, victims of domestic violence and elder abuse, and people with
disabilities; to physical infrastructure and design issues; and to
opportunities to explore and develop safer city issues on a
neighbourhood basis.
SUMMARY
On March 15, 1994, Council endorsed the Terms of reference, structure,
and nomination process as contained in an Administrative Report dated
March 11, 1994 for the Interim Advisory Commission on Safer City
Initiatives.
On June 8, 1994 Council endorsed a one year term for the Interim Safer
City Initiatives.
PURPOSE
This report summarizes departmental initiatives that were undertaken
1994 - 1996 for the purpose of creating a safer city. These activities
were regularly reported to the Interim Advisory Commission on Safer
Cities during its term. As well, this report provides comment from the
Interim Advisory Commission.
BACKGROUND
The Safer City Task Force in its final report to Council in June of
1993, outlined several recommendations for City departments to implement
to make Vancouver safe. All departments have implemented specific
initiatives in response to the recommendations (outlined in Appendix A).
Council appointed an Interim Advisory Commission on May 31, 1994 with
the following mandate:
To deal with emerging personal safety and urban security issues,
and to propose strategies, policies and/or to City Council, and/or
departments or advisory committee as appropriate.
To liaise with the City Manager's Office and review the response to
the Safer City Task Force recommendations that fall under other
government or board jurisdictions.
While the Interim Advisory Committee has not finalized a report to
Council, this report will include wherever possible, references to
recommendations the Interim Advisory Commission has developed in its
discussions.
DISCUSSION
The implementation/status of the recommendations of the Safer City
report have been far reaching and comprehensive. A detailed breakdown
of the recommendations by department and the initiatives undertaken to
date is attached in Appendix A*. The following offers a limited and
brief summary of some on-going initiatives.
- An interdepartmental committee continues to execute recommendations
regarding parking garages. Planning and Police have undertaken a
study of crimes in parking garages, Engineering are continuing
remedial work.
- The Vancouver Police Department have completed an 18 month
secondment of a constable to the Planning Department.
- The Police in coordination with planners, now provide comments on
all rezonings and major development applications. This is in
addition to comments already provided by the Police for conditional
uses such as billiard halls, video arcades and liquor license
premises. Safer design considerations have also been incorporated
into many initiatives including bicycle parking policies, Greenways
and CityPlan. The continuing integration of Police into planning
process and the increasing exchange of information and expertise
will contribute to many of the objectives contained in the
recommendations.
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- Planning staff knowledge of CPTED has been increased as a result of
the training course in May of 1994, the Police Ride-along program,
involvement of Planning staff with specific training in CPTED and
the Police secondment to the Planning Department. (CPTED Guidelines
- see Appendix B*).
In the Planning Department, both planners and technical staff have
included CPTED in their workplans. Many Council-approved design
guidelines include a section on safety and this is discussed in
pre-application meetings between staff and developers enquiries.
- Neighbourhood crime and safety studies undertaken by Planning and
Police have established links between crime prevention offices and
community groups for exchange of crime information.
- Council has received reports on the extensive implementation of the
recommendations outlined in the Safer City report by community
based police officer and by neighbourhood integrated service teams
as vehicles for enhancing safety in our communities.
- In December 1994, the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation
designated one staff member to be responsible for conducting safety
audits on existing parks and to develop design guidelines for
proposed parks, the objective being to better understand the role
of CPTED in parkland.
The Park Board is in the final stages of completing a pilot safety
audit program on Andy Livingstone Park and Burrard View Park.
Information obtained from these audits will assist staff in
formulating safety design guidelines from a CPTED perspective and
form a basis in which to extend the safety audit program to other
parks.
Briefly, the Parks safety audit program (copies on file in the City
Clerk's Office), includes three phases:
Phase I - Safety Audit Review: This is a three month, on-site
inventory process identifying the type of criminal activity, where
the activity is occurring, and its related paraphernalia. The
Safety Audit establishes the foundation to later formulate an
understanding as to where any why an activity occurs.
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Phase 2 - Site Visit: The neighbourhood residents will be invited
to document their concerns during "a walk about"; where do they
feel unsafe, what criminal activities patterns and location can
they identify, and what would they like to see done about it,
including possible landscape changes.
The site visit also includes "a walk about" and a "ride-along" with
neighbourhood police to document their concerns and to better
understand how they carry out their surveillance of the park.
Phase 3 - Park Use Analysis: This involves a review of the
neighbourhood's recreational needs to see what uses are needed
before carrying out any physical changes to the park. For example,
we may want to remove or add a use in our efforts to make an area
of the park less attractive to criminal activities.
- In addition, our Facility Development Division has been active in
installing lighting in parking lots and around Community Centres in
response to the Safety Audits outlined in the Safer City Task Force
Report.
The amount of work undertaken by departments is impressive. However, as
noted by the Interim Advisory Commission, there is still a lot to be
done.
The consensus of most members of the term appointed Safer City
Commission was that they felt it was very important to have some type of
appointed Commission to represent, define and present community crime,
fear and safety issues to City Council.
The Commission could continue to review the City's implementation of the
Task Force recommendations. The Commission felt that City departments
would need the support and urging of a commission to implement the
remaining recommendations.
The Interim Advisory Commission expressed some concerns that no full
time City staff resources were assigned to the Commission for support
and research. Suggestions for staffing the Commission included a work
placement student or a retired professional.
The Interim Commission felt it was important to continue to respond to
community issues. However, most of the community concerns regarding
personal safety and urban security issues came from information brought
to meetings from individual members or were issues reported in the news.
The Advisory Commission felt that members should reach out more to the
community and provide a forum where citizens can bring forward personal
safety concerns. The Interim Commission outlined issues of continuing
concerns and importance for Council. These included safety and quality
of life on City streets, the record of the judiciary in responding to
increases in criminal activity, crimes against property, illegal
business activity, and gangs as well as other issues.
Included as Appendix C* is an Overview of Safer City Initiatives in
major Canadian cities conducted by the Office of the City Clerk.
CONCLUSION
There is still work to be done by the staff within the departments in
collaboration with the community. The question of how best to support
this work and continue the development of the Safer City program will be
considered in future reports.
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